Angel of Silver and Gold
by carzor4
Summary: Ava is, more or less, a normal high-schooler. That is, until she was hit by a car and was reincarnated into Sakura from Naruto's 12 year-old body, with the original Sakura as her Inner! Ava and Sakura decide to team up to change the future to a better one, but how will Ava do that? Eventual pairings, reincarnation fic, self-insert fic. Rated T for language and themes.
1. Obsidian

Hello!

I'm so sorry for the lack of updating in AWUWAROT. Even since like a month or two ago, my writing has already improved. If I come around to it, I might do a re-write. Also, I'm not going to ditch AOLH. It's just going to be second on my list, with AOSAG as the first...

Anyway!

I've been reading a lot of reincarnation fics, so I've been playing around with this idea for a while, and I like it. Even though it is super cliche and overused.

Well, since I already had a story where anime characters come to this world, a story where a OC went to an anime world, I thought, why not have a story where an OC was reincarnated into an anime world, as one of the characters?

All my stories are so cliche...

This story will follow the canon route for a little while, but I will play around with a few details, such as Sakura's parents.

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE, Sakura BY Darkpetal16 (GO CHECK IT OUT! I COMMAND YOU!). IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise; the owner is Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my OC Ava.

Warning: Language and themes throughout the whole story.

* * *

_"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form." ~ Rumi_

_Obsidian: a hard, dark, glasslike volcanic rock formed by the rapid solidification of lava without crystallization._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I sighed, tapping the end of my pencil against the desk in front of me. I looked up at the clock, then yawned.

I tuned out the teacher's droning about the different types of clauses, wishing I was in math or science class, where I would at least be interested in what they were talking about.

I inwardly cheered as the bell rang, signaling the end of another boring school day. I grabbed my books and darted out the door as the teacher called out our homework, to write a two page essay by Wednesday.

I ducked out through the steady stream of people who headed towards the front entrance of my high school. I winced as I was jostled around, and sighed in relief as I went outside, and headed down the familiar street I took to get home.

As I headed down the street, I rounded a sharp corner, and I crossed the street. Unbeknownst to me, a car driven by a group of laughing, careless 16 year olds. I whipped my head around as I saw the car speeding toward me, and my eyes widened when I couldn't move my fear-filled limbs.

Only one word rang through my stricken mind as my demise in solid form approached me:

_Shit._

Darkness.

* * *

What is this?

Why is it so dark? I can't see anything.

Well, at least it feels really comfortable...

Wait. What's that light up ahead? ...It's getting closer...

I tried to scream as the white light engulfed me, giving me the feeling that my blood was on fire, but I couldn't. My voice didn't seem to work.

What was going on?

A second ago, there was that car...and it hit me...

So...

Am I dead?

I looked around in the almost blinding white light, and to my surprise, I could spot out distant silhouettes in the shapes of humans.

All thoughts were torn from my mind as there was a sharp, painful pull on me, and once again, everything went black.

* * *

"Ow...that really hurt..." I muttered, and I sat up and looked down to see a short red and white dress.

Wait.

A short red and white dress? I don't wear dresses. I _definitely_ don't wear short dresses. I glanced around the room to see a bed with pink covers, and tan colored walls. This wasn't my room.

What was going on?

Was I reincarnated?

I began twirling a lock of my pink hair around my finger, a habit I had when I was either really nervous, thinking hard, or in a daze.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Wait.

Pink hair?

I most certainly did not have pink hair. Unless someone played a prank on me...when I was dead...

I looked out a window in this room, and I saw the sky turning slightly darker, so it was probably around 5 or 6.

I slowly got up, wincing as I did so as my muscles felt sore and overused, and clambered over to what looked like a bathroom. Yep. Definitely not my room.

I glanced into the mirror by accident, but I sharply turned my head toward the mirror and I yelped in surprise as I examined my features.

Long pink hair. Light jade green eyes.

Holy shit.

It was Sakura from Naruto.

The Sakura in the mirror mimicked my horror. I reached up to touch the glass, and Sakura did too. My fingers touched the smooth, cool, glass, and Sakura did too.

This can't be real. It's not physically possible.

So was I dreaming? Was this all a prank?

I tugged hard on a lock of m- Sakura's pink hair, and I felt pain prickle through my scalp.

FML. Er, FMD?

This still can't be real though. Maybe a dream?

Yeah. Let's leave it as a 'dream'.

Well, I'm going to make this the best dream ever. I'll change the future. Kill Kabuto, Orochimaru, and Danzo indirectly. Save the Akatsuki, the one without Tobi.

**Hey.**

How's it goi- wait, WHAT?

**I'm technically your inner. Like, Sakura had one? Yeah, that's me.**

What do you mean by 'technically'?

**Well...I'm Sakura. The Sakura from before you were 'reincarnated' into my body.**

...No way. So I just like, stole your body from you? That's...kinda...cruel. Besides, at this point in the storyline, didn't you act kind of...differently?

**Yes, if you want to think about it in that way. I'm the Sakura from 'Shippuden', as you call it. But, there was no way you were randomly chosen to inhabit my body.**

What do you mean?

**Think about it. How many people died around the time that you did? How many people actually died within the last decade? How come ****_you_**** were the only one to be here?**

Er...

**It's because we're compatible.**

...We are?

**Yes. I don't know exactly how it worked, but there was a reason you were the one to replace me.**

Still though. I just stole your body from you! How come you're not mad?

**Well, I already had my chance to be 12. Besides, the route the world went in in my time was, loosely speaking, a horrible one. Everything just messed up. So now, it's our turn to change the future. Push the world onto a better path. And I get to watch as you remake my life as a better one.**

I agree with that, I guess. But I still wonder, how did you end up as my Inner?

**Well...**

Yes?

**I died.**

...?!

**Yeah. It was in the middle of 4th Shinobi World War.**

But, in the show, you didn't die! How...

**I don't know either. I guess it doesn't really matter now anyway.**

Yeah...still seems weird though. I die, to replace your soul in your body when you died.

**Mmhmm...**

I'm glad I get such a kick-ass Inner.

**Why thank you.**

You're welcome.

**...This is so awkward.**

...Yeah. So uh...do you mind if I don't...um...like Sasuke?

**Pfft! I don't really like him any more in that way. It's your life now. You can do what you want with it. I'll just be here in your mind, watching and giving advice.**

Seems fair enough. By the way, do you know at what point in time this is?

**Er, your headband is on the table over there, you still have long hair, and you still have relatively low chakra levels...so I'm guessing this is right after graduation.**

...I see. By the way, do you mind if I change your looks a bit? Well, a little more than a bit...

**Go ahead.**

Okay. So do you think I should...

* * *

I. Look. Awesome.

**That you do.**

Thanks a lot for fashion advice, by the way. I'm kinda a fashion disaster when it comes to clothes.

No problem. It would be kinda embarrassing to see a different ugly version of yourself...

I admired my hair and clothes in the full-length mirror in my room.

I had my hair dyed into a deep brown, almost black, and I had just kept the dress Sakura had for simplicity. Plus, I mean, even though it was a skirt, it had shorts on underneath. What if it didn't have any?

That'd be embarrassing.

Now, a shirt and capris might not seem very fashionable, but it looked alright. Good, even. It also seemed very less extravagant, and there wasn't really a way for people to recognize me as a ninja. I looked like a normal civilian who was a 12 year-old girl.

Then again, if Naruto were to show off a bunch of jutsus, I think people still wouldn't think of him as a ninja...

Ermherm.

Anyway.

So after I had a trip to change my appearance, I got familiar around the house, while Sakura filled me in with an explanation for each room throughout the tour. I learned, surprisingly, that Sakura's parents typically were out on business trips. However, they came back for the finals of the Chunin exams, they were killed in the middle of the chaos.

I saw the Sakura of part one of Naruto in a new light.

I sighed as I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water to hot in the bathtub. After I deemed it hot enough, I sat on the edge of the tub as I waited for the tub to fill up. I twisted the knob so it stopped the water, and I sighed in content as I stepped in.

Hey Sakura?

**Yeah?**

When did you get back to 'friend' status with Ino?

**Uh...I think it was sometime after the Chunin exams. It was a long time ago, so I don't really remember.**

...You think I should make up with her tomorrow?

**Why? I don't have any complaints, but why?**

Well...I'm not sure how me being here will change things, including the deaths of various people. If she were to be killed, and I didn't even get to make up with her...

**Yeah...I just hope we will be able to prevent the deaths of my friends.**

I hope so...

With that thought in mind, the rest of the night went by in a blur.

* * *

**Ava!**

W-What? I'm tired...

**It's time to get up! I woke you 30 minutes earlier than usual so you can prepare.**

Oh...thanks...

**Well, now it's time to launch plan GIBAMF, a.k.a. Get Ino Back As My Friend.**

I yawned as I stretched, and I pulled on my shorts and dress, and put on my forehead protector around the top of my head.

Thinking about it, not that many people actually use it to protect their forehead...

I stepped out of the front door and shut it as I looked around the peaceful streets of Konoha.

Thinking about it, what if I was compatible with, say, Ami? Like, the super Sasuke fangirl?

Or, dare I think about it, Sasuke?

Thank whatever kind god that let me inhabit Sakura.

**You said it sister. Imagine if I had got a Sasuke fangirl. It'd be like living my life exactly the same completely over again.**

I glanced at the sign of the Yamanaka flower shop, which was where Sakura told me it was. I blinked as Ino stepped through the doorway as well.

"Ino!" I called, and she turned around and narrowed her eyes. "Sakura. Is that you? You...I'm surprised they let you graduate."

I smiled softly at her, causing Ino to gape at me. "I'm happy. I got to graduate with you and everyone else." Ino was silent, still gaping at me as she didn't know how to respond at my change in behavior.

"Say, Ino...we're ninja now," I continued, and Ino snapped back at me. "Yeah, so?"

"Well...I just...I wouldn't want anything to happen to you. And we're probably going to be on different teams, since you'll be in the Ino-Shika-Cho formation with Shikamaru and Chouji. If anything were to happen to you, and you got hurt or died, I wouldn't be able to live with myself with the fact that you left this world without us ever making up. I want us to be friends again. You were my best friend, but I pushed you away when I wanted to fight with you over Sasuke. We let a _boy_ break our friendship."

"W-Well...I..." Ino stammered.

"I give up on Sasuke," I said firmly.

"What?!" she shouted incredulously, whipping her head towards me.

"I give up on Sasuke. You can have him. I don't think he'll ever like me back, and at the most, it'll probably just be friendship or comradeship."

"But why now?" she said.

"Like I said, we're ninja now. We're kunoichi of Konoha. We're supposed to stand by each other's backs no matter what. I'll support you and Sasuke. My best friend and my previous crush," I grinned, and she turned back to face the road we were walking on.

"I...Let me think about it," she said, and I grabbed her hand, causing her to widen her eyes as she turned back to me.

"Promise you will?"

"...Fine."

I let go of her hand and we walked to the Academy, awkward but slightly contented smiles on our faces as we chatted about various topics concerning our recent graduation, out tone still too polite to be like friends talking.

**Well, so far, so good...**

Good enough for now, anyway.

* * *

Okay! First chapter of Angel of Silver and Gold is done!

I just noticed all my stories start with 'A'...

Review please! Gives me much needed motivation...and if anything is wrong, please tell me. I'll change it lickety-split! I'm too lazy to proof-read...

Have a good day!


	2. Topaz

OMG.

I cannot believe that I got 4 reviews on the first chapter, and within a few days! It's impossible! Lol, I get happy with 2 reviews...

Anyway (excuse the confused raging), thank you to the following people for reviewing: December 25th, StarGem16, crimson dragonX, and NagariMitsukari12.

I just started City of Ashes (from the series Mortal Instruments) and I finished City of Bones in one day, and I'm halfway through CoA...

JacexClary forever! Only cuz I looked ahead...spoilers...

I've hit a low point in AWUWAROT, and AOLH is put on short temporary hold, so yeah...

Try to enjoy ze chappies! I was screaming bloody murder when I accidentally pressed a key that made me lost like half of the chapter when I hadn't saved. I felt like giving up on life and eating some Mid-life Crisis Solver, a.k.a. ice cream. But I didn't have any. So I settled for (theoretically) bitch-slapping my stupid computer. Especially when I saved, hit the mysterious key again, and still lost most of this chapter. But, I managed to make a long one!

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Both the franchise and the person. But don't be so sure about the person. I think you can get him from eBay for $5.

Warning: Language and themes.

* * *

_"What are all these?" Clary asked._  
_"Vials of holy water, blessed knives, steel and silver blades," Jace said, piling the weapons on the floor beside him, "electrum wire - not much use at the moment but it's always good to have spares - silver bullets, charms of protection, crucifixes, stars of David-"_  
_"Jesus," said Clary._  
_"I doubt he'd fit."_  
_"Jace." Clary was appalled." ~ Cassandra Clare, City of Bones_

_Topaz: a precious stone, typically colorless, yellow, or pale blue, consisting of a fluorine-containing aluminum silicate._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I stepped into my Academy classroom from the door in the back right corner of the classroom with Ino. My eyes widened in surprise, even though I shouldn't have been.

Holy shit. There are all of the Rookie 9.

I glanced around the room, and my eye caught where Naruto and Sasuke where sitting. Naruto was looking at me with a grin and a blush on his face.

Again. Holy shit.

Naruto.

His fluffy blonde hair, his cerulean blue eyes, his whisker-like marks on his cheeks...

Holy shit. He seems like the embodiment of sunshine...

"S-Sakura-chan! Er, your hair...?" he said as I walked over to him with a smile on my face. His face lit up with hope, and I inwardly squealed._  
_

He's just like in the anime, but better! Seriously, he looks like sunshine...

**Huh. I guess I never really saw him in that light.**

Sakura! How can you not notice this!

**One word: Sasuke.**

Touché, mon amie, touché.

**What?**

Never mind.

"Hey Naruto! Can you scoot over?" I asked sweetly, and his faced dropped in disappointment, before getting up and out of the bench.

I blinked.

Of course.

He thought I wanted to sit next to DBH (Kidnap Me? Have Fun With That! by IceCrystal7 slight reference). Well, makes sense considering 'I' was a super Sasuke fangirl before this.

**DBH?**

Duck Butt Hair. I mean, it does kinda look like a duck's ass...

Ignoring the Sakura laughing uncontrollably in my mind, I rolled my eyes. I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him back onto the bench, scooting him closer to Sasuke so I would have room to sit. I plopped down on the edge of the bench with Naruto gaping openly at me.

"W-Wha...?"

I grinned and ruffled his hair, turning back to the front of the classroom.

"I dyed it. Pink hair isn't the best for ninjas to have; plus, it makes me fit in better."

Naruto continued to gape at me, and I thought I saw Sasuke's eyes flicker over to me momentarily, before he stared off into space again emo-ly.

Silly Sasuke.

Being emo is for kids!

Or Uchihas, so I guess he actually fits into that category...

I turned around to see Ino sitting next to Shikamaru and Choji (who she was probably introduced to when she was young due to their clans' partnership) and waved at her, and she waved back hesitantly, causing Shikamaru to raise an eyebrow at her.

Well, at least this classroom is cooler than my old school. Imagine screeching chairs against hard floors...

* * *

~Time skip~

* * *

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi. But you are still genin; your journey has just started. Soon you will receive missions, so you will be put into three-man teams and an assigned jounin sensei. You will need to follow your jounin's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions. We tried to balance each teams strength..." Iruka said, and by the end, people were shouting indignantly.

Why?

It made sense, right?

I mean, obviously they wanted to put people who complimented each other well (in terms of combat ability, cuz if it were people compatibility, I think whoever decided Team 7's members was really stupid or naïve) so they would do better in missions.

I don't get why people are so mad.

**Me neither.**

I tuned him out as he called out the first 6 teams, tracing a crack in the wood table thingy in front of me boredly. I looked up as soon as he said, "Ok, next is Team Seven. Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke." I turned back to the crack in the wood, sighing as I heard Naruto cheer when he heard I was on his team, and slouch back down in his chair when he heard Sasuke's name.

"Iruka-sensei! Why does an outstanding shinobi like me have to be on the same team with that prick over there?!" I glanced up at Naruto, resting my chin on my palm.

"Sasuke's grades were the best out of the graduates, while yours...were dead last! We have to balance out the teams," Iruka scolded, and Naruto scowled.

"Bah. Just don't get in my way, dead last..." Sasuke muttered boredly, and Naruto looked ready to maul him. I rolled my eyes, and pulled Naruto back down.

"Naruto. Think. I'm the best when it comes to book-smart, Sasuke's an over-all good person, and you're creative. I think our sensei is going to hate us..." I snorted, and he calmed down somewhat. "Creative...?" he asked, rubbing his head in confusion.

Yeah. I bet you would come up with the best improvised battle plans ever. I mean, just take a look at your pranks..." I mused, and I think Iruka shuddered.

I think our team is gonna scare the wits out of everyone if we got better teamwork. I mean, think about it...cooperating Naruto and Sasuke, and pranks everywhere...

**Yeah...**

Never knew the idea of three 12-year olds was that scary.

**Yeah...**

"As you wait for your jounin sensei to arrive, take a break."

Well, time to eat lunch...

* * *

I walked down to a bench after I saw Naruto and Sasuke go to head off in different directions, my lunch bento in tow. I sighed, and began eating.

**You're sighing a lot these days.**

Shut yo' mouth, woman. And it's technically, 'You're sighing a lot this day.'

**Whatever. Geez, nitpicky, nitpicky...**

I chewed with a deadpan expression on my face, expecting Naruto/Fake Sasuke to show up. That is, if my new behavior didn't change his mind...

Apparently not. Look!

I turned my gaze to the Sasuke who was leaning against a tree nearby, looking at me rather...'warmly'?

He got up and started walking towards me, and said, "You have such a wide and charming forehead...makes me want to kiss it."

I just stared with a deadpan expression on my face at him.

"Haha, sounds like something Sasuke would say."

I continued to stare at Fake Sasuke.

"Sakura, there is something I want to ask you. What do you think of Naruto?" the Fake Sasuke/Naruto asked.

"Hm..." I thought about it putting a finger up to my chin in thought.

"Well...he's kinda annoying," I scowled, giving him the same 'I lied' treatment. His face noticeably fell, and I laughed with humor. "I'm kidding. Er, I kinda don't like the way he asks me out all the time though, 'cause I don't like him in _that_ way. I kinda gave up on Sasuke too, so...yeah. I think he's kinda cute, but again, not in _that_ way..." I mused, and he blinked. "You don't like Sa- I mean, me anymore?" He attempted to cover up his blunder.

"Well...I kinda grew up. We're officially ninja now, even if we're just genin. I don't have time for kiddy love/fangirling. I have my own dreams now, after all."

FS/N just stared at me, before he suddenly grabbed at his stomach, and ran off yelling, "Of all times to get a stomachache!"

I laughed, "Typical Naruto."

* * *

I watched as Sasuke appeared again.

"...Hello Sasuke."

Wait. Didn't Naruto do this in the canon to make me hate Sasuke?

**Eh. I dunno.**

"I have to go. Where's Naruto?" Well geez, Naruto, way to not trust me.

"I dunno. Why do you care all of a sudden? If I were his parent, I would scold him for causing so much trouble." I asked, shrugging, as I played along with his 'Sasuke is still a jerk' plan.

"...It's because of why he makes so much trouble. He's all alone, and never will be able to experience a parent yelling at him."

"You're...annoying."

"And you're a DBH."

"...What?"

"Nothing..." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I would probably scold him..."

"W-What?"

"Well, like I said before, I don't think of him like a person to date, but I think we would have been friends, under different circumstances," I grinned.

'Sasuke' grunted and walked past me quickly, walking down the road.

"Oh! Naruto! Nice Henge! You look exactly and acted just like Sasuke!"

His eyes widened, before he ran down the road, with me laughing at his expense.

* * *

"So," I said. I was sitting at one of the benches in the empty Academy classroom, waiting for Kakashi. I had duly ignored Naruto and me meeting during our lunch break, much to his relief.

"...Hn." Ten guesses who.

"Why the heck are we waiting here for so long?! Everyone else's sensei got here already!" If you need more than one guess for this, you're stupid. Or deaf.

**Or blind...and illiterate.**

What?

**Just 'cause I can break the fourth wall, and you can't, doesn't mean you have to get all jealous! Then again, you kinda broke the fourth wall, 'cause you came from a world where we were fictional, but then I went and broke the fourth wall in a different way, so...**

...What?

**Never mind.**

...

"Hehe!" Naruto grinned as he stuck a blackboard eraser in the crack of the sliding door that was ajar. Typical prank material.

"Wait!" I whispered quickly. Kakashi would show up soon. I didn't want to mess this chance up.

"What?" he said, just as loud as before. I shushed him, and quickly took out a little bottle.

Filled with pink glitter.

"Put this on the eraser, quick!" Naruto blinked, but started snickering evilly. He took out the eraser, literally poured a bunch the glitter over it, made sure the glitter wouldn't fall off until impact, and carefully put it back in it's original position.

I pulled out a video camera.

**What's that for?**

I want to capture a bunch of funny moments. A.k.a., all the pranks we pull off. This is gonna be hilarious!

"Aren't those usually really expensive?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at me, as if he was accusing me of being a thief.

Well, speaking about thieves...

**Might as well tell them.**

"Ah. Well you see, this morning..."

* * *

_Flashback - Ava's P.O.V._

_"S-Someone h-help me!" I whipped around as soon as I heard the desperate voice call out. Ino turned to the voice also, and narrowed her eyes._

_A middle-aged woman held behind her protectively a little boy around the age of 5, as a large, burly man sneered at her. "Be quiet! Gimme your purse if you and your kiddo want to live," the man grabbed her collar, and with his free hand he pulled out a rather long knife, about a foot long._

_Everyone was nervously looking away and hurrying down the street, and it seems no ninja were around, because no one was helping them._

_Sakura..._

_**Yeah. All three are civilians; their chakra levels are very low. Other end of a kunai, hit the back of the head hard, and he'll pass out.**_

_I motioned Ino to step back a bit, and she nodded and complied silently as I shot her a look that said I was going to do something._

_I skittered around the man so I was behind him, and I quickly pulled out a kunai, but held it the wrong way, so it was easier for me to hit his head. With a burst of speed, I quickly slammed the ring end of the kunai on the back of his head hard, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. I watched him as Ino grabbed rope from a nearby store and tied him up, asking a man nearby to take him to the nearby Hokage tower and explain the situation, where ninjas would take him to prison._

_"Oh my god!" the woman gasped as she looked at the body of the mugger who was being carried away, and looked back up at Ino and I._

_"Thank you so much! Please, come visit my husband's store."_

* * *

_~Le time skip!~_

* * *

_"Is it true you saved my wife from being robbed?!" the lady's husband asked._

_"Uh...yeah?" I said hesitantly, holding up my hands in defense as the man yelled in surprise, and forced a half-smile._

_"She's just shy," Ino exclaimed, and I sent a half-hearted glare at her._

_Well, not all by myself._

_**Well, technically.**_

_"Thank you...please, both of you, take an item from the store! It's free for both of you!"_

_"Uh, I didn't really do anything - " Ino said._

_"Please! It's my thanks for saving my wife and child."_

_Ino and I looked at each other, and shrugged a bit awkwardly._

_I picked out a video camera, and she picked out a regular camera._

_After we walked out of the store, I had a sudden revelation._

_"Ino? Can you go on without me? I'll catch up in like 5 minutes." I grinned as I thought of my plan._

_"Uh...sure?" she replied, probably wondering why I was grinning like a maniac, and shrugged while walking on the road to the Academy._

_I quickly ran (at civilian speed) to a craft shop, and bought a little bottle of pink glitter for 20 ryo, approximately 2 US dollars, remembering a story from fanfiction back in the days of being a normal Naruto obsessed teenager..._

_I'm so evil..._

**_Yes you are._**

_I chuckled mentally as I quickly ran and caught up with Ino a few minutes later, and we continued on our way to the Academy._

* * *

Sasuke grunted ambiguously again after my story-telling was finished (with the fanfiction part cut out, of course), and turned back to look at the blackboard eraser stuck innocently between the door and the wall.

Seriously. The grunting.

He needs to stop doing that.

**Uh, it is kinda annoying, but why?**

'Cause it seems like he could either being saying, 'Whatever, shut up. You're not worth my time' or 'I am a rainbow magical rubber duckie with rubber duckie butt hair in disguise as a human, I have a best friend who is a unicorn, we live on an island called 'Candy Land', and I am fabulously gay.'

**Hehe, nice.**

I know. I'm fabulous.

I grinned in excitement as I started filming the doorway as Naruto stepped away from it.

**Poor Kakashi-sensei. Well, he kinda deserves it.**

A hand appeared on the edge of the door and - !

_Poof!_

A disgruntled Kakashi, Jounin who graduated from the Academy at age 5, became Chunin at 6, a Jounin while still in his childhood, and previous ANBU, standing in the doorway, had hair now covered with pink sparkles.

...

**...**

There was a silence for a few seconds, and you could imagine crickets chirping.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto and I burst out laughing, and Kakashi did not look very pleased.

"Hm, how do I put this...My first impression is..." Kakashi said cheerfully, putting his hand up to his chin in fake deep thought.

"I hate you guys."

* * *

Yeah. Like, 3,000 words!

Also, Ava/Sakura might seem like a Mary-Sue for easily knocking the mugger (that sounds like muggle...) unconscious, but she's a ninja, even though only a genin at this point. And the mugger was a civilian, occupied, had his back turned to her, and was rather stupid for mugging a person in broad daylight.

If there are any fragments or uncompleted parts, or even just mistakes, please notify me right away. I was skipping around this to write different parts, and I might've missed something. Also, I'm too lazy to proofread...

Please review! Motivation, on the double!

Bye-Bye!


	3. Tiger's Eye

Hullo!

So, I'm going to get this story to at least 5 chapters, then I'll do a chapter on AOLH.

So...uh...I don't have any news...I'm reading 1984 by George Orwell, just cuz...and I'm very confused about it...Wiiiiinston...

Shout out to crimson dragonX, who has an awesome story! Go check it out!

Shout out to all my reviewers! Thank you for all the wonderful (minus one) reviews!

Specific shout-out to Silver and Gold Angels and their review! Just to let you know, I reported your review. It was completely inappropriate, offensive, and irrelevant. I hope you had fun. I don't even get why you reviewed. Or put completely inappropriate song lyrics in for the review. Personally, I think it's people like you that make the internet a bad place.

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, or Itachi... :(

Warning: Again, language and themes. _Sliiiight_ Naruto and Sasuke bashing. Don't worry, I love Naruto. He's adorable. I'll be getting him in about a few days. I bought him off of eBay for $5 from Orochimaru. Sasuke is a duck-butt. Rochi-chan won't share him. Pedo snakes like emo ducks...

* * *

_"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results." ~ Narcotics Anonymous_

_Tiger's Eye: a yellowish-brown semiprecious variety of quartz with a silky or chatoyant luster, formed by replacement of crocidolite with chalcedony._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

After Kakashi's heartfelt declaration of _looove_, we went up the stairs to the rooftop to introduce ourselves.

Even though Kakashi already knew 2 of the 3...

**That's Kakashi for you...**

"So...let's begin with introducing yourselves."

"Like what?"

"Like your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, stuff like that."

"You go first!" I chirped, and he raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright," he drawled. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future...hm...I have lots of hobbies..."

"Dude..." I drawled, mimicking his lazy tone. "You only told us your name. You just wasted thirty seconds of my life."

Naruto and even Sasuke stared incredulously at me as I sassed Kakashi **(That sounds so funny when you say it...)**.

"Now it's your turn. Start from you, on the right."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What I like is cup ramen, and what I like even more is when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen. What I dislike is the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook, and my dream...

-Is to surpass the Hokage, and then make everyone in the village acknowledge me!"

Yep.

That's Naruto for you.

Even though everyone in the village essentially hates him minus a few people, he still is optimistic and has dreams.

He's just so awesome.

**Well, now that I can see 'me' live a second life, I guess I can see a different side of Naruto I didn't see before.**

What did you see before? How did you not know this... this awesomeness before?

**...I saw a annoying, loud, obnoxious, crush-first-kiss-stealing, unpredictable boy who had bad hygiene and asked me out essentially every single day for a few years, until he finally became remotely respectable after a few years?**

...Again, touché.

"Hobbies, pranks, I guess."

"Alright, next," Kakashi said, as he rubbed his hair.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike and I don't specifically like anything. I can't call it a dream...but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and to kill a certain man."

The air seemed to drop a few degrees as we stared at him with varying levels of interest.

"Ok..." Kakashi drawled. "Lastly the girl."

"My name is Haruno Sakura," I yawned into my hand. "I like...well, I like reading. And music. A lot. And some other stuff. I dislike blatant and bad liars, as well as when people act like duck butts. I don't exactly have a dream for the future, yet."

Okay, the last one was a lie. I mean, I guess you can call saving people from their unforgiving futures and demises a dream.

But, how was i going to say that to them? 'Hey, Sasuke, I want to save your older brother from being killed.' Yeah, that'd go over _so_ well.

**Well...you get an A for optimism?**

Shut up.

"And my hobby is, well this started today, but it's to record funny moments on this," I said, and pulled out my video camera.

"Ok. So far that's it for the introductions. Tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi."

"Yeah! What types of duties?! Duties! Duties!" Naruto cheered, and pumped his arms into the air in excitement.

"First, we're going to do something just the four of us."

"What is it?" Naruto continued, oblivious to the dark aura settling over us as Kakashi chuckled.

"Survival training." Kakashi's eyes seemed to glint in the sunshine, and suddenly a feeling of cold dread overcame me.

"Why is our first duty _survival training_? We already did survival training in the Academy!" Naruto whined, and Kakashi turned his gaze to Naruto.

"This time, I'll be your opponent." All of a sudden, Kakashi started laughing, and somehow it sent chills down my spine.

A laughing Kakashi is a bad sign.

A laughing Kakashi who's laughing at you is even worse.

**Tell me 'bout it.**

"You guys are going to freak out about this. Out of the 27 graduates, only 9 will become genin. This is a very difficult test with a fail rate of 66%!"

Silence.

**I can imagine crickets...**

"WHAT?!"

Ow.

Naruto, I love you, but my ears at this point do not.

"But we worked so hard to graduate!"

"That was just to select the ones with the chance of becoming genin."

"WHAT?!"

"Anyway," Kakashi continued, ignoring Naruto "Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Oh, and skip breakfast, you'll throw up."

He lies!

You know Sakura, I'm contemplating whether or not to give food to Naruto and Sasuke tomorrow.

**Er, why?**

Well. There's two sides to this.

One, if I give them food, they'll trust me and listen to me more later on.

But, if I don't give them food, imagine the looks on their faces if I tell them I had a full and healthy breakfast! Insert random evil smiley face here!

**...You're crazy. Naruto and Sasuke'd hate you.**

Well, their loss for being butts in the test. Okay, fine. I'll bring a granola bar for each of them. If they're butts and don't accept the free food, their loss.

**I'm rolling my eyes right now.**

"The details are on this paper," Kakashi said as he held out three papers. "And don't be late tomorrow."

**That hypocrite. I think I spent a fifth of my life just waiting for him to arrive.**

Well. Maybe I'll blackmail him later to arrive, well, not so late.

**That sounds dangerous.**

You bet it is!

**...I can't believe we're compatible. This is so degrading.**

...Sorry?

I read the paper, which essentially just listed out the details of the survival training. I read it, interested in how Kakashi got the papers. Maybe the Hokage or someone made them and gave them to each Jounin sensei that made their students take the test. Did every Jounin have to give their team the test? 'Cause if they did, I think the Ino-Shika-Cho formation would royally screw up the 'pit you guys against each other' plan, just because they were raised to be good teammates with each other. Plus, Shikamaru would figure out the test before it even began.

After he dismissed us, I went on a road Sakura pointed out to me that had a row of shops that sold ninja tools, a craft store, and a general grocery store.

**Why are we even here?**

Well, you know how I said I'd blackmail Kakashi? So this is what I'll do...

* * *

~One evil mastermind plan later~

* * *

**...You. Are a genius.**

I know, right?

**Kakashi's gonna be _sooo_ mad.**

His fault for being late, right? And he should know from Anko how dangerous women can be.

Oh well.

I went home, and ate dinner, deciding not to follow canon Sakura's eating plan. I had a fulfilling dinner of rice and some leftovers, and I giggled as I set out all of my (torturing :) **Jesus, woman...**) tools in front of me on the dining table.

Excess and excess of ninja wire!

**Check.**

Paper, brush, and ink for explosion tags?

**Check.**

Excess of kunai and shuriken?

**Check.**

Bucket of rainbow shimmery paint?

**Check.**

Box of baking soda?

**Check.**

Jug of vinegar?

**Check.**

Video camera?

**Check.**

Extra energy to spend laughing my ass off at a certain Jounin?

**...Check?**

Jeez. I wish I at least could do this to Sasuke. That'd be hilarious.

**Aaaand he'd hate you forever.**

Well, he doesn't like Naruto, thought Kakashi was just useful for getting stronger, and Sakura was a useless fangirl on the surface, so I doubt it'd make that much more of a difference.

**Meh. He'd probably attempt to murder you though.**

Key word: attempt!

After I checked everything over again, I put it all in a simple backpack, and crawled into bed wondering what would happen tomorrow.

* * *

Dream - Ava's P.O.V.

I blinked when I suddenly was in white space. I couldn't see if there was a floor, but I was standing on something solid, and I could feel gravity pull me downward, even if it were lesser than usual. I felt like I had been here before, but couldn't tell when. I looked down, and I nearly gasped as I realized my hands weren't the pale, feminine fingers of Sakura, but rather my calloused from instrument playing, slightly tanned hands. I pulled a lock of my hair in front of my face, and I stared in awe as I twirled it around my finger and investigated it, despite the natural shade of dark brown it had always been for any sort of trick.

"Ava."

I whipped around at the sound of a soft feminine voice calling my name, quickly abandoning my thought process about my new, or well, old appearance.

"Who are you?" I asked, in a panic as I couldn't see the person, and the voice suddenly laughed softly, but yet sadly at the same time.

"I'm assuming that you cannot see me yet. Do not fret, over time you will get used to these meetings. I blinked again in shock as I looked at a distant form, looking rather humanoid, but I could only see her silhouette. I squinted as I tried to get a better look, but the person shook her head. "Be patient, Ava. You will slowly be able to see me, but it will be a slow process. Don't try to rush it."

"Ava!" a voice, I knew oh so well despite only being in her presence for one day, called out to me.

"S-Sakura?!" I saw Sakura, looking exactly like her Shippuden self except with surprisingly fitting pink hair in a ponytail, standing a few yards away from me, and we stared in shock at each other, our mouths gaping open. The only difference was the fact that she gave off very occasional small wisps of smoke that reflected the color of where the smoke drifted off of her body from. "What're you doing here?"

"Well you didn't have to be so rude about it," Sakura frowned, and I shrugged apologetically with a sheepish smile. "I don't know why I'm here. One moment, you're going to sleep, the next I'm in this blindingly white room. And - wait, who's that?" She was staring at the silhouette, who stood still, before she began walking toward us. My breath hitched as I realized that her body seemed to be letting off wisps of smoke, and I couldn't see properly and clearly who she was, but she seemed nice by the kind aura she gave off. I think her hair was brown, she had dark eyes, and it looked like she had fair skin. "We will meet again," she murmured, and I thought the blurry line that could have been her mouth curled up into a small smile, and all was dark once again.

* * *

Ooh, a cliffy! Even though a bad one...

What is Ava's mastermind evil plan? Find out - the next time I get off of my lazy butt and make a chapter for all of you lovely readers!

Whew, done with another chapter!

Review please! Please point out any mistakes to me. I'm a review lover. I am not ashamed to say that I will have a love triangle with Me, PM, and reviews. Or, more like a love N...I don't think PM and reviews are doing anything behind my back, are they?

Please ignore that random bout of insanity right there.

Have a good day!


	4. Sapphire

Well, I'm back from the dead! You guys are happy right? ...Right? ...Maybe not. :(

Soo many reviews~! Soo happy~!

Well, I don't have any news about my boring life. I am getting a dog in a few days, though...beware, new cuddle object!

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

Warning: Naughty language and themes. Not going to be as potty mouthed as it will be when we get to Hidan though.

* * *

_"Don't order any of the faerie food," said Jace, looking at her over the top of his menu. "It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you're munching a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not," he added hastily, "that this has ever happened to me." ~ Cassandra Clare, City of Bones_

_Sapphire: a transparent precious stone, typically blue, that is a variety of corundum (aluminum oxide)._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I shot up in my bed, startled by my dream.

**So you had that dream too? The one with the white space? And the woman?**

Yeah. I wonder what that was. I think I saw the white space after I died, and before I took over your body.

**Can hardly call that a coincidence...**

Hm. Let's keep our minds on that for a while. Maybe I'll try and look it up in a library later.

**Yeah...it doesn't feel natural.**

Well, we can't let ourselves feel down! Today is a big day!

**Oh dear god, I forgot about that. I have a feeling Kakashi-sensei is _not_ going to be happy.**

Well. At least Naruto'll be proud!

And so, I ate my breakfast (but left a plenty of room for granola bars some stubborn boys won't take), picked up my backpack filled with prank materials, grabbed the two granola bars, and set out with an evil grin on my face.

Today is the day where the name Haruno Sakura shall be known throughout the village.

* * *

~Time Skip~

* * *

I plopped down on the ground where we were supposed to meet; the third training ground. I was met with some...varying, in terms of enthusiasm, greetings.

"Hello Sakura-chan! Aren't you a bit late? Kakashi-sensei told us to be here an hour earlier! By the way, isn't he supposed to be here by now? Watch me today as I kick Sasuke's ass! Oh, what's the big bag for?"

"Hn. Shut up, dobe. You're annoying."

Well. I technically only got one greeting, but you get the idea. Naruto and Sasuke were seated on the ground, probably waiting for Kakashi to arrive. Little did they know he wouldn't turn up for another hour or so.

"Oh, the bag? Just some supplies...say..." I mused, putting my finger up to my chin. "Do you guys want some granola bars? You didn't eat breakfast, right?" Naruto and Sasuke turned to stare at me. Well, Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at me.

"B-But Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat anything!" Naruto protested and got up to his feet, and quite well timed, his stomach growled. His face slowly flushed red, and sat back down grumbling. "We're not supposed to eat," Sasuke said, and turned back to staring at a leaf.

Must be quite the interesting leaf.

**Well, at least he's not burning the forest down or something. That would be rather dangerous.**

That poor leaf.

I shrugged, and pulled out my granola bars, and ate one while I read my textbook I had brought along to pass the time, 'Introduction to Biology'. Now, while I had a very basic knowledge of biology, there was also the fact that there was chakra in this world.

That just messed shit up.

Like, ATP would be replaced by chakra, a bunch of stuff would have an extra component due to chakra, and I now had, speaking bluntly, absolutely no idea how physics, biology, or chemistry worked in this world. Sakura and I both agreed it was for the best to start my knowledge growth early.

"Hey Sakura-chan, what's that?" Naruto said, popping over my shoulder to get a closer look. "Calvin cycle...c-clorplats? Cloropasts?" he struggled, and I chuckled.

"Chloroplasts, Naruto. It's a book about biology."

"Why are you reading stuff like that? I don't get anything at all!" he whined, and I patted him on the head.

Well, it was _kinda_ cheating to have like a knowledge master in your head to explain shiz, but well.

I make good use of my resources.

**Oh geez, I love you too. So much.**

As I was absorbed in my reading, I didn't notice as the time flew by. By now, the sun was gradually going above my head, and I noticed that soon, in about five minutes, Kakashi would finally arrive. I took out the other granola bar and with a hidden smirk, I took small bites to last until Kakashi would get here.

I twitched as I felt another presence arrive. "Kakashi! You're late!" Naruto yelled, and I sighed and closed my book, putting it away.

Kakashi set the timer to noon with a click, and held up the two bells. "You have to get one of these bells by the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon...

...doesn't get any lunch. You not only don't get lunch, but I'll tie you to this stump and eat in front of you."

_ 'GRRROWWLL.'_ Naruto and Sasuke's stomach's growled loudly, and they turned over their gazes to me.

To find me happily and innocently popping the last bite of the granola bar into my mouth, chewing smugly.

**Cue angry glares.**

Yeah. Like, spontaneous combustion inducing glares.

"You..." Sasuke hissed dangerously. Naruto was still speechless.

"Hey," I shrugged. "I offered. You refused." I couldn't help it. I let a smirk cross my face. "Maybe next time you'll listen to the brain of the group," I taunted, and I thought I saw his eye twitch.

"B-But Sakura-chan! Why did you bring food if Kakashi-sensei told us not to?!" Naruto blubbered, finally coming out of his reverie.

"Well, think about it. Frankly, we're doing survival training. You know, training where you learn to survive? I don't think there's anything that's really to the point of throwing up, plus it'd be better to throw up actual food instead of bile or stomach acid. Besides, who _knows_ how long he would have made the training?"

"I...I guess that makes sense," Naruto said, letting the info sink in.

I shrugged again, turning back to Kakashi, who actually looked a _teensy_ bit impressed.

Haha, take that, sucker!

"Anyway, as you can see, there are only two bells. The one who also doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the Academy. If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

"HA!" Naruto snorted. "You can't even dodge a blackboard eraser. We'll definitely kill you!"

"In the real world, the ones with no talent usually bark the loudest. Well...ignore Mr. Dead Last and start when I say start."

Naruto's face contorted into one of rage as he was called Dead Last. He quickly pulled out a kunai, spinning it in the process to get it in the correct grip, and got ready to throw it. In a flash almost faster than I could see (I most definitely would not have seen it in my old body), Kakashi grabbed Naruto's hand with the kunai in it, and put a hand on his head, effectively pointing the kunai in Naruto's hand at his own neck.

Damn.

Now, like I said before. Kakashi's speed was almost non-perceptible, and he probably was moving at the pace of, power-wise, say, power-walking.

Imagine him at a sprint.

I had experimented last night with my chakra. At first it felt really weird, like liquid flowing throughout your body, that was somewhat like tea. Calming and energizing at the same time. Back when I was a normal anime-loving teen, I watched a show called Hunter x Hunter. Now, in Hunter x Hunter, instead of chakra, they had Nen. Nen was essentially the same concept though. Chakra in Naruto, Spirit energy in YuYu Hakusho, Nen in Hunter x Hunter. All forms of aura.

In Hunter x Hunter, there is something called Gyo. Gyo is where you focus your Nen in a specific place, typically your eyes. When they did that, they could see Nen more easily.

Applying it now, it was fairly (and by fairly, I mean immensely) useful.

First of all, I was really sensitive to chakra in the first place. When Kakashi had arrived, I felt a slight shift in chakra, when he probably disguised it to the point of not changing at all. Naruto seemed to notice him just from sight, if anything. Sasuke glanced up when he saw him at the corner of his eye.

**Hm. Maybe the sudden introduction to chakra has changed how my body reacts to it?**

Well, you perceive chakra kinda through a sixth sense, right? So, it's like being able to smell something entirely new, seeing something new that is vibrant and engraved in your memory, or touching something that you've never felt before. You should be able to recognize it instantly. And it pops out more than regular things you sense. And anyway, it's not like the old you hasn't ever used chakra before.

**That is true. Typically sensing chakra, even though it doesn't seem like it, is a more mental exercise, since it is like how you perceived it. You've never felt chakra before, and yet your body know what to do with it. It's controlled by the autonomic nervous system, like your heartbeat and breathing is. Tuning your senses to something that cannot be controlled physically can, obviously, only be controlled mentally, and you need to train your senses to learn the feeling of chakra.**

...This is confusing.

**Yes, I know. Really, I'm surprised you caught on so fast.**

Well, I'm used to trusting my mind for knowing stuff. And since I can essentially hear you in my mind, it's like I can just pretend I'm schizophrenic!

**Ouch. I just got demoted to 'imaginary separate persona in my mind'.**

No comment. Just no comment.

"Well now. I haven't said start yet. At least you've acknowledged me enough to come at me with intent to kill. I might just be starting to like you guys."

"But Kakashi-sensei, you've said start about three times now," I chirped innocently, with a back tone of sarcasm. His eye (since I couldn't read his facial expression, due to the mysterious mask. Mystify the mask!) which was lazy, uncaring, and pleasant before, was narrowed at me in annoyance.

Uh-oh.

Remind me to not sass Kakashi again. Kwakwashi wis scawy.

**Uh...sure. I take back my impressed comment. You have to be mentally retarded to make Kakashi mad. Deliberately.**

Or be like Naruto.

**...Should I make a mean joke about Naruto being retarded?**

I dunno.

**Meh. Too lazy.**

We're weird.

**Yeah.**

We should host a rave party in my mind. You, Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, rest of Rookie 9, Anko, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, Gai's team, a bunch of other people. With unicorn shaped cookies and spiked punch. Well, at least I don't have to wait until after the party to have something similar to a hangover.

**...No comment.**

But you just commented!

**No commenting on my lack of lack of commenting, or else I'll continue to comment about your comment about my abundance of commenting.**

...No comment?

Kakashi just sighed. "3...2...1..."

"Start!" "BANANA!"

Kakashi and I yelled at the same time, and while the boys were busy trying to decipher my random interjection (yep, bananas are so awesome, they got promoted from just being a noun, to being a interjection, pronoun, proper noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, etc. I don't like how they taste though.), I jumped, with chakra focused on my feet, to the forest, where I began to commence the boring part of my blackmail plan, a.k.a. BKSHDASLATFT, or Blackmail Kakashi So He Doesn't Arrive So Late All The Fucking Time.

Jumping around from tree to tree, setting up traps, carefully positioning pointy objects, I grinned as my prank began to take form.

Kakashi won't even know what hit him.

* * *

Does everything look right?

**Yep. Next part of the plan. Get out your video camera.**

Uhuh. Also, initiate poker face mode.

**That might be good. I don't think having a maniac-like grin on your face will make good first impressions.**

I don't think dropping a blackboard eraser filled with glitter is a good first impression.

**True.**

After I had checked everything was in place, I did the one thing I admit, was pretty ingenious of Sakura to think of.

I screamed.

Now, this wasn't your average 'Oh my god my crush just texted me!' scream, or 'Haha, this roller coaster is fun but scary!' scream, it was more like a 'Get the fuck away from me, I'm really scared' scream. A loud one of those.

Since I was a genin, I was undoubtedly weak. And since I was screaming like a banshee, and Kakashi knew it wasn't him that caused it, who was making me scream so much?

What if I was in danger?

Unfortunately, Kakashi would be the one in danger.

The danger of being laughed at like crazy.

**That wasn't even funny.**

Hush. I was trying to make it funny.

**And you failed.**

And you cannot understand the meaning of 'hush'.

**Hush: make (someone) be quiet or stop talking.**

Well, knowing what it is and what it means is different.

**...**

Ha!

After my little mind conversation, I dropped to the ground in a tornado position (ASSUME THE POSITION!), on my knees, head bent over, hands over my ears, as if I was really sacred.

"Help me!"

* * *

Kakashi's P.O.V.

"The Uchiha clan. The most powerful of all clans in Konoha. This should be interesting." _'The last one.'_

"I'm different from them." _'I am not weak. I don't need friends.'_

"Say that after you get a bell." _'Prove it.'_

All of a sudden, a shrill scream of fear pierced the air. I whipped my head around to the direction of where it came from.

Haruno Sakura.

My body tensed automatically. I hadn't gotten to teach her one of the three lessons yet, so what was going on? Was she being attacked?

"Help me!" her voice cried again, a hint of a sob in it.

Shit.

I didn't spare another glance at Sasuke, and instead used a shunshin to get to where she was, a kunai in my hands. I was vaguely aware of Sasuke following me, albeit significantly slower.

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

Kakashi arrived a single second later, and a few moments later, Sasuke appeared as well, surprising me. Then again, I should have expected that, since they were fighting at the time.

**Operation: Start!**

* * *

Yes, I borrowed that last sentence from Angel Beats.

I'm going out of town for the next three days, so don't expect an update...

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Next chapter is the prank, I promise.

Bye!


	5. Tanzanite

I'm baaaack!

I almost squealed in joy as soon as I saw I had like 8 new reviews XD

But I'm actually getting my dog in a week, due to it not having it's last shot... :(

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I owned Itachi though...

Warning: Pissed off Kakashi (aka, language and themes)!

* * *

_"When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye." ~ Cathy Guisewite_

_Tanzanite: a blue or violet gem variety of zoisite, containing vanadium._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

Here it goes.

"K-Kakas-shi-sens-sei..." I blubbered, trying to make myself seem utterly freaked out and scared.

**Well, you're succeeding.**

...I am?

**Look at Kakashi's face and Sasuke's.**

..Oh. _Oh_.

**Yeah.**

Kakashi looked very confused, and on guard. It looked like if a mouse squeaked, it'd be dead in a millisecond.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked rather wary. Then again, hearing someone scream out in fear when you have a past like his kinda makes you wary...

"Sakura. What happened?" Kakashi said firmly. I pretended to jump, before I slowly scooted away in 'fear'.

Here's a description of our plan.

See, the thing about explosion tags is that they're...customizable. There are a few different sections on an explosion tag, like how big the explosion radius is, how strong it is, whether or not it has a delay, how long the delay is, etc.

I set mine at no explosion delay, but at a certain distance since I did not want to be fried to an unidentifiable crisp.

Now, I wanted to include Kakashi in the blast radius, but since he's an awesome jounin, he'll be able to dodge it. However, I wasn't sure with Sasuke. He was really good for a fresh out of the Academy genin, but I wasn't sure if he could dodge a explosion with no blast delay.

I expected Sasuke to behind Kakashi by a foot-ish, just because he was smart enough to stay behind the jounin. So, I would scoot away so that we would be aligned in a line. Then, boom baby! Kakashi jumps back due to flying kunai, straight into my trap. Wires would shoot out everywhere around him, led by kunai (like Annie from AoT!) He would be trapped, then baking powder would be dumped on his head. After, paint (fast drying) would be poured on his head. In the paint would have vinegar.

His head was goign to look hike he had a bad hair day. Like, he would look like he had an afro. A rainbow afro.

...Okay, fine, it wasn't that good of a plan.

At least I didn't have to do calculations.

**My head still hurts.**

I feel no regret!

"I-I..." I stuttered, and Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"K-Kakashi-sensei.

_Behind you_," I pointed right behind his shoulder with a shaking hand.

He whipped his head around, along with turning his body to attack whatever was behind him.

"What? Sakura, there's nothing there-" his foot shifted as he turned.

_BOOM!_

He had set off a landmine (actually just an explosion tag stuck to a branch I found (**It's a forest, idiot. You don't 'find' a branch in a forest.**)), and there was a small cloud of smoke. Sasuke's eyes widened, before he he ran to the edge of the forest, opposite where my traps were set up.

Smart boy.

However, Kakashi was not so lucky. He had jumped backward as dozens of kunai and shuriken were hurled at him with inhuman speeds. He landed quietly on a tree branch, and hundreds of wires were strewn around him, in coordinated positions (kudos to Sakura), and he was immobile.

Here's the thing. You might say, 'Oh, why doesn't he just cut through them? He's a jounin,' but you can't cut through square feet of wire, especially since he can't move. So that means, no kunai, no weapon, no hand seals, no jutsus! He can't get out.

"Sakura..." Kakashi's face morphed from shocked to furious as he worked out that I had been the one to set up the trap. I changed from my fake fear to a smug smirk as I walked confidently toward him, as he struggled to move.

"Hello Kakashi-sensei~!" I chirped, and he snarled at me in response.

Kakashi does not like being humiliated. Especially by a genin.

"What did you do?!"

"Um...I lured you here? By the way, prepare to have a nice long shower when you get back to your house or whatever!" I cackled, causing him to stare at me, probably wondering what the _heck_ I would do.

Cue the dropping of baking soda.

His head (with an awesome poof!) was covered in the powdery white substance, and he coughed to get it off of his mask. "You little-"

"Nuh uh uh! Bad, bad Kakashi-sensei! Don't have a potty mouth!" I chided him as he were a child, and I held up a switch. He could only watch in horror as I dramatically said, "Kakashi-sensei. You will either: give me the bells and not come late anymore, or I will press this switch."

Now, since Kakashi had a bruised ego already, he decided to narrow his eyes at me and he didn't say anything.

"...Nothing? Okay then. I'll do a mix of the two!"

I pressed the switch.

A gloop of rainbow paint dropped onto his head, and his hair became a rainbow of colors, shimmering in the late morning sunlight. His hair, once having the mix of baking soda and vinegar in it, began to bubble and frizz up.

Silly Kakashi.

He should have agreed to just give me the bells and be on time.

I walked up to him, jumped on the tree branch he was stuck on, and I leaned closer to inspect his face, an innocent smile on my face. His eyebrow twitched, and I sighed before I maneuvered my hand through the wires to grab the two bells where they were tied to his waist.

"Thanks~" I giggled, and I jumped off the branch, two bells in tow. I gathered chakra to my arm, and threw a bell toward Sasuke across the field, which he caught with a raised eyebrow, probably curious about _what the heck just happened_. "...Thanks...?"

"You're welcome!" I chirped, and I grabbed my video camera I had set up in a tree nearby, clicking the 'stop recording' button.

I ran over to the spot where Sasuke was standing, and grinned as I straightened up at him.

"Let's go!" I cheered, and I grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him toward the place where the three logs were, just as the bell rang.

* * *

Somewhere, in a land far, far away, a certain Hokage watching a bell test through a crystal seeing-ball face-palmed at the idiocy of a cheerful giggling girl, who would have the wrath of one of his most trusted jounins soon bestowed upon her.

* * *

~Time skip~

* * *

"Alright. Sakura and Sasuke are the two to pass." Kakashi said. Unfortunately, Kakashi had found a way to wash all of the paint out of his hair in a minute after he got out of my wire trap. Kakashi's eyebrow twitched repeatedly as he tried to block out the grating sound on his ears: a.k.a. Naruto.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Your hair!" Naruto howled in laughter as I showed him the video, even though he hadn't passed.

At least he wasn't crying or something.

That would make me sad. Insert colon apostrophe open parenthesis.

**Dude, man up.**

But I'm a woman, so I don't need to man up.

**...No comment.**

"Well, since Sakura and Sasuke passed, they're the ones to get lunch," Kakashi sighed, and handed each of us a bento, even though he was glaring at me, probably wishing I would combust.

"Well, good news! None of you need to go back to the Academy!" Kakashi said cheerfully, and Naruto and Sasuke perked up.

"In fact..." They still were smiling, except for me. I had a blank look of disinterest on my face.

"All of you should quit as ninja."

Sasuke and Naruto looked shocked. I, still, had a look of disinterest as I picked at my nails that had specks of the rainbow paint on it.

"B-But-!" Naruto blubbered. Sasuke just glared darkly at Kakashi.

"Because all of you are punks that don't deserve to become ninjas."

Sasuke 'tch'ed and ran at Kakashi. In a flash, still see-able from my 'gyo' activated, Kakashi was now sitting on Sasuke, who was now face down in the dirt with Kakashi pushing his head down by his foot.

"That's why you're a punk. Are you guys underestimating ninjas? Why do you think we're put into three-man teams? Why are we doing this training? You guys don't get the point of this test."

"Answer?" Naruto said, puzzled.

"Yes. The answer helps you pass the test."

"It's teamwork, isn't it?"

Everyone turned to look at me, the one that had stayed relatively quiet during the whole exchange.

"Even though there are only two bells, the point is for all of us to work together to get the bells anyway. The mission takes higher priority over selfish individual desires."

Kakashi slowly nodded. "Well, at least one person understands. Naruto, you were essentially running around and goofing off by yourself. Sasuke, you tried to do everything by yourself because you thought everyone'd slow you down. Sakura, you were the best performing one, even when you blatantly disrespected a jounin, since you gave a bell to Sasuke after you had acquired the two. However, you didn't use a very conventional way, and you still worked by yourself."

"Well," I huffed, "I would have worked with those two idiot, but they didn't want to after the granola bar incident. Their pride would have gotten in the way." I snorted, and sat down again.

"Sakura, from what I see so far, is the smartest one. You boys are too independent. See this memorial stone here? These names carved here are considered as heroes by the village."

"Oooh! What kind of heroes are they?! I want my name to be on there!" Naruto shouted, and I winced and shook my head slowly as I looked down.

"They are the ones that died on duty."

Naruto's smile faded, and he looked down, distraught.

"The name of my best friend is also on here. You guys, I'll give you one more chance. After lunch, I'll let you try for the bells again, but I'll make it significantly harder this time. You can eat if you want to try again. Oh, and don't give any food to Naruto, it's his punishment for trying to eat by himself. Don't try to do that, because I am the rules here, got it?" Kakashi said menacingly, and he disappeared from the clearing with a jump (although I could feel his presence near us, behind a tree).

"It's okay guys! I'm not hungry at all!"

_GROOOOOOWWWWWL._

"E...heheh..."

"Here!" Sasuke and I held out our food to him at the same time, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me, and I returned the gesture.

Aww. As much as Sasuke tries to hide it (and is a duck-butt) he's a sweetheart.

I mean that in a very very very non-romantic way. I do not want little hybrid human-ducklings.

**...**

"But Kakashi-sensei told you not to give food to me!"

"If you don't eat, you'll just be in the way. After lunch, let's work together to get the bells."

I grinned after Sasuke's little speech. "Don't listen to the ass, Naruto. What he means is that you should eat too. Let's work together later to get the bells, okay?"

He looked rather inspired. "I...I..." he grinned as he looked down, probably happy to be accepted for once in his life.

"You guys..."

A huge chakra suddenly exploded and exposed itself, and I squealed loudly in terror, even though I knew this would happen. The energy was suppressing, and considering it had some killing intent in it, I felt the force of it full-blast. I felt like I couldn't move a limb or breathe.

"Pass." Kakashi had stopped in front of us with a content smile on his face, which was visible from the crinkle of his eyes.

"We pass...? Why?" Naruto said, still surprised from the big entrance Kakashi had.

"You guys are the first. Everyone else were just morons and did whatever I told them to do. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules are trash. But the ones that abandon their comrades...

are lower than trash."

I smiled happily, as did Naruto.

"By the way, Sakura-chan? Why did you squeal so loudly before?" Naruto wrinkled his nose, and I felt a flaming blush of embarrassment cross my face as I glared at the ground.

"Excuse me for being sensitive to chakra!" I retorted, and turned my face away while Kakashi chuckled, probably enjoying my embarrassment as much as I was enjoying his earlier.

"Okay! Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will start their missions."

"Yay! Yay!"

And so, the first trial is concluded.

Still...I can't help but worry...

What will happen when I encounter Zabuza?

* * *

Okay!

I'm sorry for the late update, cuz I told some people I'd update 'soon'...

Erm...

Yeah. Sorry, but this is not a SasuSaku story, or a SasuOC or SasuAva story. But I will pair Ava with someone else. Try to figure out who :3

Hm...plot ideas floating around my not-so-original mind...

Please review! Bye!


	6. Aquamarine

So many reviews~ :D

I'm reading Chicken Soup for the Soul. Don't judge me. I like it, just cuz I like reading stories.

...Well, since I live in a fairly cold area of the US, we had school off for a few days...so we had like a 5 day weekend...

Well, I got no interesting news, so here it is!

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Simple as that.

Warning: Potty mouth. Rated T for a reason.

* * *

_"Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting." ~ Khaled Hosseini_

_Aquamarine: a precious stone consisting of a light bluish-green variety of beryl._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

"What's the distance to the target?"

"5 meters. I'm ready anytime."

"Me too."

"I'm ready."

**Gather some chakra to your legs...**

"Ready...now!"

Three of us jumped out from behind trees to grab a screeching cat.

"Good work," Kakashi said as he himself stepped out from a tree, removing his earpiece. Naruto was yelling as Tora continued to scratch him as he attempted to keep her still, and with a sigh I picked up Tora by the scruff. I gently pulled her into my chest and cooed to her, and she calmed down and purred. All three boys stared at me.

"...What? I like cats."

"Just...ugh, never mind."

* * *

~Time skip~

* * *

Over the past few days, we had done a few D-ranked missions (including the infamous Tora mission), much to Naruto's chagrin.

"Why can't we do a C-ranked mission?!" Naruto whined as soon as we stepped into the Hokage's office to pick up another mission.

"Naruto," I sighed, "We're supposed to do D-ranked missions first because we're genin that just graduated. It'd be better to give higher ranked missions to the ones that can actually complete them."

"But-!"

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan's right. It's for the best that we do lower ranked missions first, especially with you and Sasuke's noncooperation..." Kakashi chided, and Iruka, who had been hanging out near the Hokage's desk, nodded.

"Hm...But, seen as your well performance over the past few missions...I'll give you a C-ranked," the Hokage mused, and Naruto cheered.

"What is it?!"

"You'll be guarding a certain individual."

"Who?! Who?! Is it a princess?"

"Actually, the client is right here. Why don't you step in, Tazuna-san."

A door slid open, and we turned to see who it was.

**Oh no. Not this guy again. He was INSUFFERABLE the first time.**

Now, let me say something. Tazuna, is well to say bluntly, a guy that looks like an old grandpa alcoholic. Well, he kinda is one. He was holding a bottle of some kind of alcohol (**sake?**) in his hand, and he slouched into the room.

"These are the ninja that're going to protect me? They all look like brats. Especially the shortest one with the retarded face. Are you really a ninja? Hey!"

"Well, it doesn't matter if we're brats! If this mission _is_ just a _C-rank_, it shouldn't matter if we're stupid brats! Besides, you shouldn't be one to judge if you aren't even a ninja. I bet Naruto could kick your ass if he wanted to. So watch who you're talking to!" I snarled, causing Tazuna to gulp. Naruto looked absolutely shocked, and Sasuke and Kakashi looked rather surprised at my outburst.

**...Kitty's got claws.**

Shut up.

**Still, why so defensive of Naruto?**

Well, it's not fair! Everyone's so mean to him, and he's the most hardworking one!

**That is true...he does do most of the mission work...surprisingly.**

Shush. You knew him before.

"...Anyway, I expect protection of the best sort until I get back and complete my bridge," Tazuna said, still in shock of me yelling.

"Huh. Well, if this mission is just a C-rank, it shouldn't matter at all if just some genin escort you, right Kakashi-sensei?" I replied snarkily to Tazuna, and whipped my gaze to Kakashi, who raised an eyebrow at me.

"Yes...Sakura-chan is right. This is a C-rank mission, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Besides, I'm a jounin."

After Tazuna left the room, Naruto turned to me rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Heheh...thanks Sakura-chan."

"It was nothing Naruto. You shouldn't let people push you around so much."

* * *

~Time skip~

* * *

"Yay! Let's go!"

"What are you excited about Naruto?" I asked him.

"Because! I've never left the village before!" he replied excitedly, whipping his head around as he took the scenery around in him, and I chuckled at the sight.

"...Am I really going to be safe with this brat?"

"I am a jounin, so you should be fine. Besides, there shouldn't be any ninja combat."

"Then we won't come in contact with any foreign ninja?"

"Of course not! Haha..."

I looked over at Tazuna discreetly, and he looked guilty and nervous. My gaze met Sasuke's, and we raised eyebrows at each other, probably wondering the same thing.

_'What's he worried about?'_

The only difference? I already knew the answer.

We continued walking on the path uneventfully, until I felt a surge of chakra.

I figured out something about chakra.

Chakra is unique to every person. Even if you were identical twins split from the same embryo in the womb, you can decisively tell the difference between the two chakras if you are sensitive enough.

**Even if, like Ino's Mind-Body Switch, where the minds switch in two physical bodies, you can tell the difference between the original and the new mind in a body. This is due to the fact that chakra is completely unique to each person, meaning their mind and not their body, which is just acquired.**

Most of the ninjas in this world have been born with chakra, been around chakra all their life, and are surrounded by it every single day.

I'm different.

When I went into Sakura's body, even though her body was slightly used to chakra, my mind was not, and so I was hyper-sensitive to it. That meant I could feel even the slightest shifts in chakra around me, and I could 'read' that chakra due to the uniqueness of each one. Plus, the chakra will change slightly when their mood changes. It also was harder to read civilians, but it was possible if I concentrated.

Naruto's, well, it felt like sunshine and the fresh breeze. Careless and somehow relaxing.

Sasuke's felt like a bed of subdued embers that are ready to flare up with a gust of wind.

Kakashi's felt mellow like being in a forest, but you could feel something crackling underneath that like storm clouds waiting to form, most likely due to his lightning affinity.

Tazuna's felt like a lazy river, but at this point it felt like there was a dam upstream that was about to burst through and cause a flash flood from nervousness.

But these two?

**Ugh.**

They felt like slimy toads, straight from the dark swamp.

A chilly feeling of dread washed over me as I felt their blood lust, and I felt it creep up on unsuspecting Naruto and Sasuke. Actually, Sasuke was a little on edge due to Tazuna's weird behavior, but he wasn't expecting anything this dangerous.

Unknown to me, however, a certain man watched my previously blank expression change to that of slight fear.

* * *

As we walked through the forest, I still felt the two chakras follow us, but at a safe distance.

All of a sudden, they disappeared.

In a silent panic, I didn't notice my surroundings and tripped on a rock and fell down in shock.

"Are you okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto frowned as he bent over me.

I stared ahead in horror, and from what it seemed, no one knew why.

There was a puddle.

And it hadn't rained for quite some time.

There was no mistake.

"I-I'm fine," I said, and I got up and forced my legs to move forward despite my growing trepidation.

I cast a discreet glance toward Kakashi, who looked just as relaxed and normal as he was before.

_What?_

Didn't he notice? If Kakashi's not ready for battle, we're doomed!

**Maybe he could just be pretending not to know anything, but I'm still worried.**

As we inched toward the puddle, I began to sweat.

_OhmygodwhathappensifIscrewupanddiewhathappensifNarutoandSasukediewhatifIscrewupandmessupeverythinginthestorylinethingswillgotoshittyshittyshiteverythingwillgowrong-_

"Sakura." My eyes widened as Kakashi spoke to me in a chiding but gentle voice, and I felt his chakra change to that almost like a rock laying out in the sun; warm and comforting.

"I know it's your first mission outside the village, but there's no need to be nervous. Everything will be fine." At this point, Naruto and Sasuke were looking at the exchange, curious.

I felt my breathing relax into a normal steady rate, but I furrowed my brow in confusion.

_Why aren't they attacking?_

Everything was silent and normal for a few moments, and we had passed the puddle, and I realized that the soft, peaceful chirping of the birds had disappeared.

...Maybe somehow they decided not to attack -

_FFFSSSSSHT!_

I whipped my head around in surprise and my eyes widened in horror as Kakashi was wrapped in chains. I couldn't move my body as something wet, warm, and smelled like metal splattered on my cheek.

_Blood._

I stared down in shock as my mind refused to wrap around the image that seemed like it came from a too realistic horror movie on the ground, and the appearance of the two assassins.

"One down."

I began to tremble all over and heard a voice whimper in fear, 'Kakashi-sensei'.

Was that me?

**Ava! Calm down! It's just an illusion from Kakashi!**

B-But it feels so _real_...

**Just let me handle this!**

My arms, which felt like jelly before, suddenly felt full of strength like a balloon being filled with air.

Grabbing Tazuna (Sasuke had already reacted and had blocked one of the chains an assassin had thrown at us with a well thrown kunai), I pulled him behind me, and I assumed a stance with kunai in my hands.

Taking in the sight of the two assassins, I activated Gyo. My eyes lingered on their forms, before they moved.

Like a flash of color, they streamed past the fallen form of Kakashi toward Naruto, and they appeared behind him.

"Two down."

With a flash of movement I didn't know I was capable off, I threw a kunai at each of the assassins. They scowled (or I think they did, I couldn't see all too well with their strange clothing and gas masks) and they tried to dodge while still staying the the range of being able to kill Naruto.

_**H**e**l**l **n**o**!**_

Grabbing more kunai and shuriken from my weapons pouch, I threw and threw until they were forced to jump backwards toward a tree.

When Sasuke jumped up, and with the precise and fluid motions like a cat falling, twisted and threw a shuriken, trapping the chains to the tree, and another kunai pierced the tree trunk and the assassins did not look happy to see that they were stuck to the tree.

Landing on the bodies of the two men, Sasuke grabbed the devices that shot the chains and kicked out hard, causing two heads to fly back with a decisive crack, and I winced.

However, the two chains were disconnected, and we were staring in horror as the two men ran around and slashed at Naruto, causing his hand to fly back as a small stream of blood appeared on the back of it.

And now the men were coming for me and Tazuna.

"Get behind me!" I yelled, and I pulled out more kunai as I readied myself to fight.

With another flash of movement, I saw (painfully, as I was straining my eyes now) each step as Sasuke ran in front of me with arms outstretched, aiming to protect me and Tazuna.

And with another flash of light faster than I could see this time, Kakashi stood in front of us, with two assassins in tow.

"Sorry for not helping you right away Naruto. You got inured because I didn't step in fast enough. I just didn't think you wouldn't be able to move. Good job, Sasuke. Sakura too, you made sure Tazuna wasn't injured," Kakashi said, and Naruto and Sasuke realized that he had used a kawarimi in the beginning, and it seemed like no one noticed.

Except for me, but I was already prepared for this moment. I had scanned the clearing for any signs of changed as soon as we had passed the puddle, and the random small logs were kind of hard to ignore. Sasuke and Naruto were caught by surprise, as was Tazuna. However, I noticed that the blood platter on my cheek was gone, and I raised a hand to my cheek to confirm my suspicions in amazement.

Naruto stared in slight awe at Sasuke, and Sasuke turned to him.

"You all right, Mr. Scaredy Cat?"

Naruto instantly glowered at him, and I could imagine him getting ready to retort, but Kakashi silenced him.

"Naruto, save it for later. Their claws are soaked in poison. We need to get it out," Kakashi said sternly, and we directed our attention to Naruto's posioned hand. "We have to open the wound again and let the poison out. Don't move to much, because that'll cause the poison to spread even more."

"Anyway...Tazuna-san."

"W-What is it?!"

"...I need to talk to you."

* * *

After Kakashi explained the now B-ranked mission (that, unknown to all of us (minus me, of course), yet had to become A-rank) and the purpose of the attack.

"We should head back to the village to treat Naruto's hand."

Naruto looked down, and a small fire of determination lit in his usually bright cerulean eyes.

And he grabbed a kunai -

and stabbed it straight through the back of his poisoned hand.

We stared in shock at him, and he said slowly, but firmly.

"With this kunai...I will protect the old man! We're continuing the mission!"

**Ouch. Kid has guts.**

Yeah. Naruto...well, he's determined.

"Naruto...it's good you're releasing the poison from your hand, but you'll bleed to death at this rate," Kakashi said cheerfully, and there was a few moments of silence, minus the birds which were chirping again.

"Nooo! I don't want to die!" Naruto screamed in terror, and I rolled my eyes affectionately.

**I think the flailing will do him in at this point, not the bleeding hand...**

"Let me see your hand," Kakashi said, and took out a roll of bandages from his pack. I watched the hand being bandaged, and noted the surprised look on Kakashi's face as he saw the cut that probably was healing really fast do to Fluffy.

**...I can't believe you named the Kyuubi Fluffy. That is just _sad_.**

Meh. Wait until I say it to Fluffy's face one day!

"It should be fine."

"Kakashi-sensei..." Tazuna said, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him.

"I need to talk to you."

* * *

After Tazuna explained his predicament, he laughed (he was a _decent_ actor) as he said, "Well, it's okay if you don't accompany me on the rest of the trip. I mean, my cute 10-year old grandson will cry for a few days, and my daughter will lead a sad life hating leaf ninja forever, but it wouldn't be your fault at all...!"

"Well geez, old geezer, if you wanted us to have a pity party for your happy little family, you coulda' just asked," I scoffed, and Tazuna looked at me dumbfounded.

"Don't mind her Tazuna. We'll accompany you on the rest of the trip."

Tazuna looked smug as he turned away from us, and I scoffed again. "Don't feel smug, Tazuna. It'll just come back to bit you in your ass."

* * *

~Time skip~

* * *

"Woah!" Naruto breathed as he saw the village we had arrived at in the gondola boat thingy.

We had been walking down the pier and on a path in a forest.

I saw Naruto glance at Sasuke bitterly (and slightly enviously, but he'd _die_ before admitting that.) and suddenly throw a shuriken into the empty bushes.

"THERE!"

Everything was silent for a few moments.

Nothing happened.

"Heh, just a rat?" Naruto said, and I could imagine sparkles around him.

"Er...please stop using shuriken, it's very dangerous," Kakashi said nervously.

"HEY MIDGET! Stop acting like a moron!" Tazuna shouted irritably.

We just watched as Naruto continued to look for things that were dangerous.

"THERE!"

Naruto launched another shuriken, and Tazuna hit him upon the head.

"I said stop, you brat!"

"Someone is after us, I swear!"

Naruto gawped as he realized the white bunny with the shuriken stuck in a trunk of a tree right above the top of it's head comically.

"I'm sorry lil' rabbit..." he said.

**Why is that rabbit white...?**

Kakashi crouched behind us, and all of a sudden he whipped around and yelled.

"Everyone get down!"

I shoved Tazuna, who I was standing next to before, down to the ground, and I felt my limbs relax as I realized Sasuke had also pushed Naruto to the ground, as a giant-ass sword whizzed above us, and lodged in a tree, but I felt my limbs freeze again as I felt a new dangerous chakra.

And standing on top of it, facing away from us, was Zabuza Momichi in all of his dangerous glory. We stood up (I forced my legs to move), and Kakashi said, "Well, well, well. If it isn't the missing-nin Momichi Zabuza-kun."

I saw Naruto prepare to show Sasuke up, but Kakashi stopped him. "Everyone, get back. This one's on a whole 'nother level."

"It will be a bit tough unless I do this," Kakashi said lazily, and raised a hand to pull up his headband over his Sharingan eye.

**Uh-oh.**

Shit is going down.

* * *

Well, a nice long chapter for you guys as an apology for the long wait :)

Please please please please _please_ review! I love reviews! And it motivates me! Also, any mistakes, you know what to do!

Also, sorry to all the ShikaTema fans. This story is going to be ShikaIno, and I didn't think there were that many ShikaTema fans. Also, this is going to be NaruHina. Just a warning. And Sasuke is going to be paired too, just not to an OC, Ava, Karin, or Ino. Guess who! Heheh...I shall designate a one-shot of their choice to the person who guesses correctly ;) Just later...when I'm not so busy...I wonder if anyone will even get it right...

I'm in a Bleach-y mood. I love Byakuya and Toshiro, for some reason. I wonder why.

Bye bye!


	7. Moonstone

Hello world!

Sooooooo many reviews~! :D

Heheh, thanks to all the people who guessed. BTW, no one got it right for Sasuke - yet! Keep guessing peeps!

Okay, so far the list of people NOT in the Sasuke pairing: Ino, TenTen, Temari, Hinata, Matsuri, Sasame, Naruto (XD lol, no yaoi here), Just About Every Other Male, Karin, Random OC.

This list is getting kinda long... XD

Hm...not gonna comment on Ava's pairing...that'll come later ;)

Sigh...stupid homework...you're ruining my life!

Well, no one wants to read about my boring life, so here it is!

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Warning: Coarse language and themes.

* * *

_"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up." ~ Veronica Roth, Divergent_

_Moonstone: a pearly white semiprecious stone consisting of alkali feldspar._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

My body trembled. I subconsciously reached out and read his chakra signature, but cringed back. It felt like a bloodthirsty wolf ready for a delightfully gory hunt.

And I would be the rabbit.

**Ava! Snap out of it!**

I-I can't Sakura.

**Why?!**

It's...like seeing your death in physical form.

**I didn't die the first time! So why would you die now?**

It's just that, what if I get overconfident! What if I change things? ...What if I get Naruto and Sasuke killed...?

**...**

"Ah. You're Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry, but the old man is mine..." Zabuza growled, and I gulped.

"...Surround and protect Tazuna. Let me handle this. Don't enter the fight. Zabuza...fight me." Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector, showing his spinning Sharingan.

"I already get to see the infamous Sharingan. I'm honored."

"Sharingan?! Sharingan?! What the hell is that?!" Naruto yelled, looking confused.

"The Sharingan," Sasuke started, looking as confused as Naruto (but not by the same purpose), "It is said that some have the ability in their eyes to forsee and defeat all the types of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. The Sharingan is one of the types of pupil that have this ability. But that's not the only thing they can do..."

"Heh, exactly. What's even scarier is that once they see a technique, they can copy it. When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's assassin team, I kept a handbook that included information of you. It said, the man who was copied over 1000 jutsus... 'Copy Ninja Kakashi'."

I glanced behind me to Sasuke who was eyeing Kakashi warily.

"Now...let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man."

At the sound of his gravelly voice, we jumped back and surrounded Tazuna.

"Hm...it seems I have to kill you first...Kakashi!"

Zabuza jumped off the tree, sword in tow, and I activated my Gyo again, forgetting I had turned it off. Besides, my body naturally shut it off, due to the fact that my body couldn't sustain that much chakra for that long of a time. Zabuza landed on the water, and he held up his hands in a position I assumed was for a powerful jutsu.

And then came the chakra.

"Guh!" I gasped quietly, clutching at my throat. Sasuke, Naruto, and Tazuna looked at me worriedly, but I didn't notice.

Everything was turning black.

The air seemed to swim dangerously, like a sea of ink in the middle of a storm. I couldn't breath. The air was too thick.

"I-I...I'm f-fine.." I managed to cough out softly, but the three didn't seem convinced. I coughed again, and suppressed a whimper.

If Kakashi noticed, he hadn't mentioned it.

"Ninpou..." Zabuza began menacingly. "Hidden Mist no Jutsu."

The air, ironically, had become thick with chakra-laden mist. I closed my eyes for a moment to calm down the stinging of my eyes and swallowed.

"He'll come after me first. He was infamous for silent killing. You won't notice until you're already dead. Be careful, I can't control the Sharingan perfectly."

"Eight choices. Lungs, liver, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, heart, brain, kidneys."

I shuddered.

"Which should I go after first?"

We almost jumped with startled shock. Kakashi darted his eyes around, before clasping his hands in a hand sign.

Oh god, not again.

Another huge chakra filled the air, but this time, it wasn't sinister. In fact, it almost made breathing not seem like lifting a ginormous boulder and walking uphill, but more like a bowling ball.

I glanced to the side, and was surprised at the sight of Sasuke sweating profusely.

Stubborn, aloof Sasuke, and he looked ready to accept death. It seemed rather...pitiful. Painful. His eyes glazed over, and I could only cringe thinking about what he would have been thinking.

I didn't even want to see Naruto.

"Sasuke!"

Like a flood, a wave of peaceful chakra washed over me, and I felt, for once in this day, serene and secure.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you guys with my life. I don't let...my comrades die," he turned his head to let us see his crinkled eye, but I could only wonder about what was going on in his mind.

Poor, poor Kakashi. Had to lie to comfort us, but those words probably made his heart rot in his chest.

Obito and Rin...and he didn't even know about Obito...

Still, I welcomed the brief moment of comfort, letting the soothing chakra wash over me like a warm blanket on a cold winter day.

**Ava!**

My eyes flitted from side to side, and I felt a trace of movement; it was the source of the sinister chakra.

**3...**

2...

**1...**

"Behind us!" I yelled, spinning around fast, Naruto and Sasuke following suit.

"...It's over," Zabuza said, hands clutched in a hand sign, and another flash of movement caused me to see stars.

Still, my body reacted and I jumped back in time to see Kakashi stab a kunai deep into Zabuza's midsection, blood pouring from the wound. Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna were knocked over by Kakashi as he jumped in.

I stared in horror as I saw Zabuza rising like a demon behind Kakashi.

"Sensei, behind you!" Naruto and I both yelled.

And the sword swung -

and the blood poured.

I choked on the air again, and I looked up to see the blood that once was a deep red turn into a clear crystal liquid.

Water.

"Don't move!" Kakashi yelled from behind Zabuza, kunai pointed at the assassin's throat. "It's over."

"...Heheheh..." Zabuza chuckled. "It's over? You don't get it. You can't beat me with your monkey-like imitations. Still, impressive of you. By the time you had said 'I won't let you guys die', you had already copied my jutsu, huh? You used the clone to get my attention, while the real you hid and watched. But...

I'm also not that easy."

Another Zabuza (I couldn't tell if it was a clone or not) appeared behind Kakashi, and the one Kakashi was holding a kunai to disappeared in a splash of water.

"Another fake?!" Naruto yelled.

In a small flurry of movements, Kakashi and Zabuza engaged in taijutsu, but I noticed a single spot of error where Kakashi lingered too long.

_WHAM!_

Kakashi flew sideways towards the water, and Zabuza ran after him, but stopped when he encountered makibishi, almost like little more 3-D shuriken on the ground capable of cutting through the soft material we used for the soles of our ninja sandals, which were especially good in masking sound.

But they worked against him in this case.

Kakashi landed in the large mass of water with a loud splash, and I could only watch as he surface, but with difficulty.

"Water Prison no Jutsu."

Kakashi was stuck in the swirling ball (that was actually pretty massive, by the way) with Zabuza's hand sticking in to keep the technique active.

"You shouldn't have tried to escape the water. You're now trapped in my water prison. Kinda hard to fight when you can't move, right? Hmm...I can finish you off later, so I'll take care of _them_ first. Wearing those headbands and acting like ninjas. Real ninjas have had countless encounters with battles and death."

"Well maybe those 'real ninjas' actually, you know, started somewhere and sometime where they actually, you know, hadn't encountered battle or death yet," I snarled back at him, not exactly appreciating my teacher stuck in a big-ass water ball.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but made no inclination to reply. Instead, he turned to Naruto.

And he started moving.

Without thinking, I spurred my legs to MOVE.

With a sharp crack and pain to my head, everything turned black.

* * *

Dream - Ava's P.O.V.

I blinked.

The sharpness and yet mellowness of the stark white space made me wonder just where I was.

"So you're here again," a feminine voice that said with humor.

I turned, and the brown-haired woman was standing behind me. Her shadow-like appearance was starting to become clearer, but I still could not see anything other than dark hair, dark eyes, and marks on her cheeks.

"Who are you?" I asked curiously. The woman giggled in response.

"You will learn in time," the woman chided gently, "and then you will understand."

"Why can't you tell me?" I cried in desperation, and her eyes softened.

"In good time, child. In good time."

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

My eyes flew open, and I brought up my forehead, only to crash it hard into another hard object.

"Ow!"

I reached up to my forehead and winced at the pain of simply moving my arm.

I slowly opened my eyes again to see Sasuke with a not-so-amused look on his face, and I grinned sheepishly.

"Hey."

* * *

So!

Mystery woman appeared again!

Keep guessing for pairings!

Review!

Bye!


	8. Opal

Hey guys!

Haha, still no one got it right for Sasuke! :P

It's becoming a bit hard...

Meh.

Still not giving you hints.

Lol, yes xVentressx, Ava did suck a bit XD I made it that way so she wouldn't seem overly powerful and Mary-Sueish in her first ninja fight.

Well, first real one. Not sure if knocking out a retarded mugger and catching a cat counts.

Nothing like fighting missing-nins after just becoming a ninja!...

And she was a 'civilian' before, I highly doubt she would really know anything other than running fast at this point in time. Like, simple applications of chakra that are useful.

Anywho! Let's get on with the show :) Heh, this is a pretty fast update.

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, form, or imagination, Actually, scratch the imagination part.

Warning: Potty mouth and themes.

* * *

_"I must do whatever I can to find the best partners possible."_  
_"Did you kick their butts?"_  
_He frowned. "The buttocks are among the least sensitive places to hit someone."_  
_I laughed. "It's a figure of speech."_  
_"To kick butts. Interesting." ~ Allison Van Diepen, The Vampire Stalker_

_Opal: a gemstone consisting of hydrated silica, typically semitransparent and showing varying colors against a pale or dark ground._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I woke up with a throbbing forehead and a mildly pissed off Sasuke with a slightly pink forehead.

All of a sudden, my stomach felt like it was on fire, and I moaned while clutching it. However, doing this only made my head hurt. In the end, my whole body felt like it went through a meat grinder and I decided just to lie down (leaning back was still painful) while moving my mouth instead, watching Sasuke as he sat next to the futon I was sleeping on.

"Ow, remind me never to drink..._ever_...You have a surprisingly hard forehead, you know?"

His eyebrow twitched.

"...Sorry? I didn't really like waking up with someone so close to my face."

Silence.

"Jeez, stop giving me the silent treatment! What did I do?"

Glare.

"Ok, fine, I admit that jumping into the fight just as Naruto was about to be hit wasn't _exactly_ the smartest move, but what was I _supposed_ to do?!"

He furrowed his brow and sighed deeply.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Cervical fracture. Fractured wrist. Two fractured fingers. Sprained ankle. Dislocated shoulder. Three broken ribs. Moderate concussion. Internal hemorrhage. You were in a coma for two days."

"...Wow. Did'ja memorize all that for me - ?"

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?!"

"...I - I.."

I blinked back at his furious, storming face, and was shocked. I mean, that was pretty stupid of me, to charge in like that. Actually, really stupid.

But, why was he so _mad_?

His eyes burned like molten tar, and he stared at me for a few moments, silent after his outburst. Suddenly, he stood up, and stalked out of the room angrily.

**Wow. He seemed _pissed_.**

Talk about making me feel even _worse_.

I sighed, and plopped my head back down on the pillow dejected. It was making my head hurt, and I groaned with effort as I reached up to rub my forehead.

Life is complicated.

I felt my eyelids droop in exhaustion again, and I didn't stop them.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!"

"Ow ow ow ow ow...Naruto..."

My forehead.

My poor, poor forehead.

What's with people and putting their faces right above mine when I'm asleep?

"Sorry. I just saw Sasuke storm out of here. What did you do to piss him off so much?"

"Uh...I dunno..."

Naruto looked at me weirdly, before sighing just like Sasuke did. Naruto...he seems so...subdued right now.

Well, given your condition, I highly doubt anyone but you could be cracking any jokes.

"Sakura-chan...you got really hurt."

I stared at him. How did I get so hurt? All I remember was getting hit on the head, and then blacking out.

Noticing my confused expression, Naruto continued.

"After you ran out in front of me to block that hit, Zabuza hit you on the head with the butt of his gigantic sword. He seemed really pissed, and he went all taijutsu on your ass. He even threw you into a tree. Kakashi-sensei was still in the water prison, so he couldn't do anything. Sasuke and I got really pissed, so I came up with this awesome plan, and we were able to get Kakashi-sensei out of the water prison. Then Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza got into this really big copying water battle, but at the end a kid shot some needles into Zabuza's neck! I think he said he was a hunting-nin or something. Anyway, Kakashi-sensei said Zabuza was actually dead. Then the hunting-nin person carried Zabuza away. Kakashi-sensei fainted or something, and we brought you and Kakashi-sensei back to the old geezer's house where you slept for two days. Turns out his daughter had some medical knowledge because she reset all of your bones and stuff," Naruto said and took a huge breath afterward.

"So what did you do with your genius plan?" I asked, humoring Naruto. His eyes brightened as he attempted to explain it.

"Well, see see, you were beaten up, then Sasuke and I got really mad, and Sasuke kinda charged at Zabuza. Zabuza went all taijutsu on him too, just not so badly, and I created a bunch of shadow clones. Then I had all but two dog-pile on Zabuza. But that was all a distraction! I sent one clone to protect the old geezer, and the real me actually transformed into a Fuma shuriken, and while Zabuza was distracted, a clone grabbed me and put me in my pack. My clone threw a Fuma shuriken to Sasuke, and he threw it at the real Zabuza, who dodged it, but I was actually in the shuriken's shadow, and Zabuza had to jump to avoid me. Bu then I transformed back into a human and threw a kunai at him, and he had to release Kakashi-sensei!"

"...Wow...that's actually...a really genius plan to come up with, much less in a matter of seconds. This is what I meant before about you being creative," I said, impressed by hearing it out loud.

"Hehe, thanks."

I was, in a way, relieved. Not much changed after I had fainted.

**And got beaten the crap up.**

...I was unconscious.

**Seriously though. What if Zabuza killed you?**

Well...I couldn't just let Naruto get hit without doing anything.

**But you could've! You knew what would happen. Things would go well. You wouldn't have almost died!**

...

Sigh...now everyone's mad at me.

**Not to mention Kakashi...**

...

**...**

...!

He's gonna murder meee...!

**It's your own fault. Deal with the consequences.**

Why does the world hate meeeeeee?!

**Oh, shut up you drama queen.**

* * *

"Excuse me? Are you awake?"

I turned my head to the side and saw Tsunami stand in the doorway.

"Er...yes?"

She smiled, and set down a tray of food to the side of my futon.

"Thank you," I said softly, and she smiled again in response.

"They were really worried about you," she said mischievously, and it took me a second to know what she was referring to.

"Oh. _Oh_. Um... I already kinda like someone else...so...and I already told them I don't like them..." I stammered, embarrassed I was talking about this. She laughed softly, and helped me sit up.

"Well, who's the lucky boy?" she asked as she handed me a bowl of soup. I brought up the bowl of warm liquid to lips and sighed after I drank some, setting the bowl back down on the tray.

"Well...it'd probably be best if no one knew..." I trailed off, and looked at the wall sadly.

_It'd never work for us to be together anyway._

"That's too bad for the boys, then," she chuckled, and gave me a bowl of rice. "Help yourself."

"Thank you," I said, genuinely grateful. She patted my shoulder motherly, and stood up.

"After you're done, you can leave the tray there. Also, if you're well enough to get up, there's a bathroom through that door there," Tsunam pointed at a door in the room, and I nodded.

She walked out of the room and closed the door, and I breathed deeply in resolve.

* * *

"Uuuuggggh! Raaaar! Uggghrrr!"

* * *

All of a sudden, Naruto and Sasuke burst into the room, looking at me wildly and panting from the run.

I blinked. They blinked.

"Um, Sakura-chan...why did you sound like...you were..."

"Giving birth to a baby?" Sasuke finished his sentence.

As his words registered in my mind, I couldn't help it.

I doubled over in laughter, but winced as soon as I felt my stomach cramp up, but I couldn't contain the occasional giggles that escaped me as I struggled to gasp for air.

"Well...to answer your question - " I paused as another giggle fit passed through me, "I was trying to get up."

They stared at me.

I stared back at them.

"Then why were you sounding like you were a duck about to cooked for dinner?! Why were you even trying to get up in the first place?!" Naruto yelled in a panic, and pushed me back down onto the futon, where i continued my giggling fit.

What they didn't need to know was that I was imagining a Sasuke duck about to be cooked for dinner by a evil-eyed Kakashi.

**My god. I swear you have the maturity of a five-year-old.**

Lol. Not denying it.

**...I'm facepalming right now.**

...Should I care?

"Okay, get out!" I shooed the boys out of the room, and I continued to flail around to try and get up.

Life sucks. Big time.

* * *

Life really does suck.

I sat in front of Kakashi looking chastised as he stared down at me with cold, dark eyes.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"..."

"Nothing? Perhaps you would like to explain to me about your thought process when you almost got yourself killed."

"...I wasn't thinking."

"Exactly. You did't even think twice before you jumped suicidally in front of Naruto. Did it perhaps cross your mind that you wouldn't have been able to take him on at all, much less even land a hit on him? You were knocked out before you were even able to react. What if he had killed you?" Kakashi fumed at me, and I sunk my gaze lower to the ground, but cast a discreet glance to the side where Sasuke and Naruto sat to watch my lecture.

Naruto sent me a condoling look, while Sasuke looked rather impassive.

"B-But then how come Naruto and Sasuke aren't getting a lecture?!" I stammered in defense, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Well, they actually had a plan, and they executed it quite flawlessly despite no communication. You, however..." he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't even know what to say to you."

I pouted angrily down at the floor, before looking at Naruto and Sasuke again. Naruto gave me a helpless shrug of sympathy, while Sasuke actually smirked.

**Well, you deserve it...I was expecting this, anyway...**

Damn it.

That bastard smirked!

How dare he mock me...

I shall show him...

The true power of Sakura Haruno/Ava! I will laugh at him (without stomach cramping!) as he bows down to my feet!

...After I recover.

* * *

~A few days later~

* * *

It was the fifth day after the attack, and Sakura had me do some simple self-healing chakra exercises (where I sent healing chakra to my own bones, and imagined the bones fusing together with new cells), and I was almost fully recovered. I could now get up with very little to no difficulty, and I could run at a normal pace for a while before I got tired.

I walked into the forest where Naruto and Sasuke were training. They seemed relatively miffed, and they kept giving glances to each other as they probably thought about how to beat the other.

Seriously.

Those two could be brothers, how they fight.

"So, Sakura." I turned to see Kakashi sitting at the base of a tree, reading his book. "You should try climbing a tree. Do you know the concept of it already?"

I nodded.

It was simple enough, and Sakura could fill me in with the details.

He handed me a kunai, and I turned to an unused tree. I was vaguely aware of three gazes on my back as I readied myself to

**Gather chakra to your feet...more...no, a bit less...good. Keep that. Remember, when you're climbing, attach your foot to the tree by sending this amount of chakra through the tree trunk like roots, move the other foot forward, attach, release other foot, etc. Keep focus and you'll be fine. I think you only need to be at a light jog. No need to run at the tree.**

I took a deep breath, and pulled up my right leg to brace against the trunk. Sending out my chakra into the tree, I took a deep foundation using my chakra in a root like formation. Just like Sakura told me, I pulled up my other leg and attached it, detached my right and pulled it up more, and continued like this until I reached a high branch.

**Good job. First time, too.**

Well, I suck at combat, but I have a cheat-sheet person thing for stuff like this: you!

**'Thing'?**

I peered down at the ground, and Kakashi looked impressed, while Sasuke and Naruto looked shocked.

"Well. It seems Sakura's the best out of all of you with chakra control. Seems like she's the closest one to Hokage, Naruto. Also, the Uchiha clan doesn't seem that great..." he drawled, and Sasuke and Naruto stiffened with anger and resolve.

Well, at least they're more motivated now.

* * *

At dinner, Naruto and Sasuke, quite literally, stuffed their faces. They just kept shoveling food in, and ignored the gag reflex.

"More!" "More!" Both glared at the other, and suddenly looked sick.

I sighed.

Boys are stupid.

And also they have really high metabolisms.

**T**h**a**t**'**s **s**o **u**n**f**a**i**r**.**

* * *

The next morning, I woke up early and bid goodbye to Tsunami, saying I was going out on a walk.

Humming a song from my world lightly, I strolled through the forest until I reached a field of grass with a dormant Naruto lying in the middle of it.

I turned my head as soon as I felt a slightly familiar chakra signature.

"Hello!" I called cheerfully, and Haku blinked.

"Hello..." he said hesitantly.

"What're you doing out here at this kind of time?" I said, and spun around in a circle, enjoying the scenery and fresh air around me I probably would've never been able to experience in my past life.

"Oh...I'm collecting herbs."

"Do you need help? I've got time."

"Sure."

* * *

As we picked the herbs, I hummed, and turned my eyes to the ground.

I took a silent deep breath and began.

"Say, Haku, how's Zabuza going?"

I was suddenly pinned to the ground with needle to my neck. "How do you know my name?!" he snarled.

"Well, considering you were the one to 'kill' Zabuza, I thought it'd be worthwhile to memorize your chakra signature. And don't worry, I dind't come here to fight, and I'd clearly lose considering my condition."

He eyed my face warily for a few moments, but he moved away from me.

"Tell me what you know."

* * *

"So let me get this straight. Gatou is going to betray us, Zabuza and I will die, and everything will be for nothing?"

I winced at this disbelief in his voice, but I nodded, and his eyes narrowed.

"And you actually want me to believe this story of yours?"

I nodded again, and he sighed.

"And you want us to have a truce."

Nod.

He rubbed his temples.

"This is a...vexing situation. Should I believe you, or should I not? Plus, Zabuza won't be happy I'm talking to you," he said and sighed.

I shrugged. "It's your decision. Besides, it's not that believable anyway. But I at least want to warn you about it before the time comes," I twirled a lock of my dark brown hair around my finger.

"And that if the time comes and both of us are in need, we will support each other, as two people who both want to protect those they care about."

* * *

Well, sorry about the semi-fillerish uneventful chapter. But, next chapter will have the fight on the bridge, and soon the Zabuza arc will be over.

Please review. Pwetty pwease? And point out mistakes. I'm too lazy to check the whole chapter myself.

Keep guessing people for Sasuke! Winner gets a one-shot!

Oh yeah, random omake below (doesn't have any importance or place in the story). Don't know what's wrong with me.

Bye bye!

* * *

Omake - Ava's P.O.V.

"Hey Haku..."

He turned his head to me.

"Hmm?"

"You're so pretty..."

"..."

"Hey, like, has anyone before ever mistaken you for a girl, and grabbed your butt or chest?"

"..."

"Ooh, or, have boys actually tried to pick you up when they mistook you for a girl?"

"..."

"Have you ever pretended to be a girl and a drama queen and get people's sympathy just 'cuz?"

"..."

"Have you ever done a prissy girl imitation? It's rather fun. Like, flipping your hair and saying 'Oh mah gawd. That's, like, so cool!' Have you?"

"...Sakura-san..."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."


	9. Prehnite

Hello! I'm back again!

...STILL no one got it right for Sasuke... D:

Well...

Nothing going on in my life...except bad grades and procrastination on homework.

Enjoy!

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Warning: Potty mouth Sakura and themes!

* * *

_"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." ~ Maya Angelou_

_Prehnite: A pale green mineral occurring in crystalline aggregates having a botryoidal or mammillary structure, and rarely in distinct crystals. It is a hydrous silicate of alumina and lime._

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I sat and stared at the wall depressed, twirling a lock of my hair around my finger nervously.

"Are you okay?" Tsunami asked me, eyes filled with concern. "Are your wounds acting up again?"

I didn't tell Tsunami and Inari about my newly healed wounds, for two reasons. For one, It'd probably freak them out. They weren't used to a person healing within a few days without real medical treatment, as opposed to a civilian with medical treatment to heal in month, at the least. For another, soon it'd be the time for the fight on the bridge. Since Tsunami was stubborn and a mother, she (naturally) would absolutely refuse me going. I'd stay behind, and Naruto would oversleep from chakra exhaustion. Naruto'd wake up, and go to the fight on the bridge. He'd see a bunch of cut up stuff (including a super big boar) and come back. He'd save Tsunami and Inari, which would spur Inari to collect the villagers and go protect the bridge. I'd just stay back and go to the bridge later to make sure that things would go okay.

Plus, she freaked out whenever I even stood up.

It'd be easy to convince her I was still injured.

Too easy.

After the walk in the woods, I came back, and I had a really small thin slice on my neck where Haku had pressed a sharp pointy shiny instrument of death (a.k.a. a senbon) against my neck. I didn't even notice, but Tsunami did. And she flipped out.

I got an even worse lecture than the one Kakashi had given me. Twice as long, too. I had insisted that I had walked into a tree/bush and I had accidentally cut my neck, but she didn't buy, and I was grounded.

Even in the last world, I had never been grounded. I had been the perfect child, obedient with good grades going to go to an Ivy-League college. So of course, I was flabbergasted. I had begged her to at least let me go on harmless walks (*cough* go on huge training sessions and dunk myself in a river to remove the evidence of sweat, dirt, and random branches *cough*) which caused her to retort I had been on a 'harmless walk' and had come back injured.

I had resorted to pouting at the wall angrily, before my anger faded and I just stared at the wall thinking pessimistic thoughts.

I sighed. "No, Tsunami-san. I'm fine." I stared at the wall again, but turned when I felt Inari's chakra signature behind me.

He stared at me.

I stared back.

He stared at me.

I stared back.

"...Why did you do that?" he said monotonously. I raised a brown eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard the story. Why did you jump in front of Naruto?" I noticed he didn't add an honorific to Naruto's name.

"Why not? He's my friend and comrade. Why shouldn't I risk my life for him? You should know too, about wanting to sacrifice yourself to help other people. Don't you?" I said calmly.

His eyes widened. He turned tail and ran back upstairs, and I shrugged an apologetic shrug to Tsunami before getting up and going to the kitchen to wash dishes and help make dinner.

* * *

I snuck out of the house with Sakura's help, and I walked over to where Naruto was sitting in the highest branch of the tree. He grinned at me, and I grinned back.

"Good job, Naruto," Kakashi crinkled his eye, and Naruto gave off a smug chuckle.

"Woah!" He started fake flailing, before falling back ward and 'falling'. Like a work of magic to civilians, he hung upside down while laughing at Kakashi's face, before starting to fall for real. Gathering chakra to my legs, I sprinted up the tree in a flash and grabbed his arm as he fell. I grinned as I flung my arm holding Naruto's jacket upward, and he reversed directions before heading toward the branch he fell off.

Straight into the hanging body of Sasuke.

With a loud audible 'Oof', Naruto collided painfully into Sasuke, and Sasuke grimaced as he grabbed Naruto's leg to keep him from falling again. Laughing at them while still standing sideways on the tree trunk, and receiving glared in return, I shouted, "That's what you get for being a show-off!"

Below us, Kakashi chuckled at our antics with an ambiguous look in his eyes.

* * *

I sat down at the table, and I muttered a small 'Itadakimasu' with everyone else before we started eating.

"Since we got the tree walking down, we'll be going to attack tomorrow on the bridge. According to my calculations, Zabuza will arrive at the bridge also tomorrow."

"...You guys should stop trying. There's no such thing as heroes. You'll all lose to Gatou."

Inari was being depressed again.

And I, just being another stereotypical teen, had gotten sick of it.

**Ava, wait, don't-!**

"Well, it's either us or your dear soon-to-be-dead grandpa. Your choice," I snarled at him, and I stood up abruptly without seeing his reaction, jerking the table a little.

"W-Where are you going?" Tsunami asked, still shocked by my harsh words. I wasn't sure if she was asking that in concern or just shock.

"Taking a walk!" I yelled over my shoulder, and I stormed out of the door.

I was angry.

Really angry.

And also sad. And anxious. And I felt like the world's weight was resting on my shoulders.

Because, of all the things that could go wrong in life, I was stuck with a little boy of ten telling the worst truth in the world at the moment, who probably would be right.

I could fail. Horribly. I would fail, we'd lose to Gatou, people'd be killed, a town would lose hope once again, and I could've prevented it.

**Ava, it's not your fault. You couldn't do anything!**

Sakura, shut up!

**…!**

I-...I'm sorry...I just…everything's going wrong. We weren't even in a real fight, and I got so badly injured. What'd happen on the bridge, with Zabuza and Haku? Will I even be able to survive Naruto unleashing the Kyuubi? Would I even live up to that point? I -

**Ava. Calm down. Look, so there's not much you can do. You still know what's going to happen, right?**

...So?

**Well, you know what Zabuza said about Kakashi-sensei knowing the future? Well, you actually do know that future. You're more powerful than Kakashi-sensei at this point.**

Well, like the oh-so-philosophical Schoolhouse Rock said, knowledge is power...

**Ava. No sarcasm. Not now.**

Sorry...

**Ahem. Anyway, knowledge is even greater than any sword or pen or whatever. With knowledge, you can plan.**

Well, I did spend like four days doing nothing, so...

**AVA.**

...Okay...

**Anyway,like you so explicitly stated, you have planned. What do you do with plans?**

...You plan them?

**AVA-**

You perform them?

**...Yes. You made a plan, so you WILL perform it.**

...I will?

**OH MY FUCKING GOD, AVA, I SWEAR I WILL-**

Okay! Jesus...

**AHEM. Like I was saying, BEFORE YOU SO KINDLY INTERRUPTED, you made a plan, you will perform it. If it goes wrong, fuck. If it goes well, yay! Get it?**

...Ok...

After having a battle with Sakura in my mind (and losing horribly) while staring at a tree creepily, I sighed and plopped my head back as I sat down at the base of it, admiring the tree's lush leaves move creating changing dappling patterns. I looked up as I saw the leave swish lightly in the cool breeze with the darkening sky behind it, which seemed all too calm for a blood-bath to happen tomorrow. The leaves swirled and shifted, and I closed my eyes as I felt a chakra signature.

Another shadow fell upon me.

"Hey," I said softly, enjoying the breeze.

"...I have decided to think about your proposal. After all, there shouldn't have been a point of you lying to me."

I sat up straighter and looked at Haku with a cheery smile, which he blinked at.

"That's good!" I said, and internally did a dance. Haku would make the fight stop!

Wait.

But...

If he stopped the fight, what would happen? How would everything change? Sasuke awakened his Sharingan here. Naruto and Sasuke became closer because of this. Kakashi thought we were strong enough to do the Chunin Exams because of this.

Luckily, my alarm didn't show on my face, but my face did morph into a blank mask.

"However..." he continued. "I have not been able to convince Zabuza-sama to not fight tomorrow. I will however, if the need comes, not fight and assist you when Gatou attacks us, if I am still alive."

I blinked, before nodding. "That should be fine. Thanks."

He dipped his head politely at me, before lifting his head as his brow furrowed. "...How do you even know those things are going to happen?"

I sighed and swallowed, my eyes shutting again as another breeze ruffled my hair a bit.

"It's best that you don't know."

* * *

I came back to the house, and I walked in. Everyone (which consisted of everyone but Inari and Kakashi) looked at me, and I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I turned my face down to the floor and trudged back to the rather plain room I had recovered in, and I sighed as I slipped back into the futon. Staring at the ceiling, I had an internal battle raging in my mind, with Sakura chipping in with her thoughts occasionally, about what would happen tomorrow.

Suppose that Inari doesn't want to gather the villagers tomorrow. What if it's my fault from my outburst this evening?

**Well, nothing you can do about that, I suppose. Still, Kakashi-sensei and Naruto would make the shadow clones, remember? That'd scare off all of Gatou's men.**

What if Naruto doesn't save Inari and Tsunami?

**You'll be there. It'll be fine.**

But I've never take on two people before, much less two skilled samurai...!

**Sigh. Look, if that happens, I'll take control of your, er, my body. Even with low chakra levels, which you actually raised significantly over the last week from constant healing, I can still probably defeat them. I'll set up traps or something. Okay, _fine_; you make a shadow clone, just like how I told you to a few days ago, and I'll take control of it. I'll stay behind, while acting like you so Inari and Tsunami don't freak out, and I'll watch over them. You go to the bridge and protect Tazuna.**

But what if Inari hates me/you, and refuses to, well, comply during Tsunami's kidnapping?

**Well, he probably got talked to by Kakashi-sensei. It'd have less of an effect due to the fact that you're not Naruto, but hopefully Kakashi-sensei put _some_ sense into him.**

Well...what if Tazuna dies? I mean, hopefully Haku talking to Zabuza somewhat makes him less aggressive towards him, but what if he dies? Inari will essentially shut down due to the fact that two of his loved ones died. I mean, sure he's a brat, but he's, like, eight.

**Stop worrying Ava. He won't. He'll have you protecting him. I'll still stay in your mind and give you directions, but I can control your clone at the same time. Years of making clones and controlling them all at once; trust me.**

I bit the inside of my cheek.

What if...

**Just go to sleep Ava. Everything will be fine.**

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Dream - Ava's P.O.V.

I blinked in surprise as once again I appeared in the white space after I drifted off. Sakura was standing by me, and we exchanged confused looks as we appeared here again. Instantly looking around for the dark-haired woman, I frowned when I couldn't find her. Peering closer though, I could see a few silhouettes, and I instantly started walking toward them, but I felt woozy walking due to the lack of the ground and horizon reference for my eyes. I waved to Sakura goodbye before attempting to find out who these people were. Moving closer was actually faster than I thought, but I couldn't tell due to the space being pure white with no shadows. Turns out, the people weren't in a group but I randomly chose a person to walk to. Upon seeing the person closely, I gawked.

Holy fucking mother of Jesus.

This wasn't possible.

This absolutely was _not_ possible.

"I-I...You...w-what...?" I stammered, and the person chuckled good-naturedly.

"Ah, it seems to be that we have a new person here. What's your name, child?"

I open and closed my mouth stupidly, and the person smiled in amusement at me. Finally finding my voice, I stuttered, "M-My name's A-Ava."

I continued to stare in shock at the man. Bright cerulean eyes closed as he smiled at me and tilted his head as he replied calmly in a kind voice.

"I'm assuming you've heard of me before, from your reaction. But, I'll tell you my name anyway for the sake of pleasantries. My name is Namikaze Minato, but I'm more known for being the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. Nice to meet you, Ava-chan."

* * *

"I see...so you've come from another world?"

I sighed, and nodded. I had sat down (which still made me feel a little woozy, making Minato laugh as he told me I would get used to it) before I told my story to him. "Yeah. Our world didn't have chakra, and none of us were capable of ninjutsu or genjutsu. We had more advanced science, though." I, however, didn't tell him about the anime/manga Naruto; knowing he was just a fictional character probably wouldn't be too good.

"Hm...that is indeed troubling. I wonder why you were reincarnated while we weren't?" Minato mused, and I turned my gaze to him curiously.

"Wait...there's more of you?"

He blinked at me. "Of course. There's a lot of people here; it's the afterlife, after all."

I stood up abruptly, and he tilted his head. "Can you take me to them?" I asked him, and he smiled in response.

"Alright. It's not like I have much to do anyway." He started walking. "Here, follow me."

I started trailing after him. "Um, Hokage-sama, how come I can see you clearly but i can't see the other woman clearly?" I asked, and he gave me a look over his shoulder as we continued walking.

"No need to address me so formally, Ava-chan. You can just call me Minato. Well, describe this woman. There are a lot of people here, so I'm not very sure who you're talking about," he hummed.

"Um...well, she has dark hair, probably brown, like mine, and dark eyes too. And she has purple markings on her cheeks. I think she wore a black shirt and shorts, and some weird pink skirt thing."

Minato smiled, albeit a bit bitterly.

"Ah...

You mean Rin-chan."

My eyes widened as my heart almost stopped.

'Rin...'

"...R-Rin Nohara?"

He stopped walking and turned to me fully, and regarded me with a ambiguous look in his eyes.

Somehow, in that moment, he seemed like Kakashi. Looking calm and collected, but somehow dangerous underneath the appearance.

"Oh? Do you know Rin-chan?"

My mind swam as I tried to think of a reason, and I unconsciously reached up to twirl a lock of my now natural brown hair around my finger.

"...Well, my sensei is Kakashi, and I heard of his team before. You were the person in charge of the team, and your genin team was Kakashi, Rin-san, and Obito-san, right? Plus, you were pretty famous Minato-san. We learned about you in the Academy."

"Well, you must be very familiar with Kakashi-kun if you're referring to him without an honorific, Ava-chan," he teased, and I flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh...um...in our world, we didn't really have honorifics, and we didn't use them often..."

He chuckled good-naturedly. "I see. Some of the people here come out as blurry to our eyes when we first arrive here. Some, like me to your eyes, seem perfectly fine. I was in the textbooks? How much did they say about me?"

I recognized this, while being disguised to the point of me almost not noticing it (but with Sakura in my mind, she periodically told me about various ninja techniques. I would probably win a trivia game about ninjas due to her random facts drilled into my mind), as him very subtly trying to get information out of me. He was probably wondering how much they told about him, and he was determined to use me to figure that out.

Keeping my face as blank as usual, "They said you were called Konoha's Yellow Flash! They also said that you died while defending the village from the Nine-Tails, which you defeated and you saved the village!" I tried to make myself seem as cheerful as possible, while seeming to be in awe at his accomplishments.

In reality though, I was really impressed.

Here was a man who was a prodigy, and he essentially saved a whole village from a giant-ass monster that was about to kill said village, and he would have succeeded and lived had he not have to save Naruto.

He chuckled again. "Yes, I am indeed called Konoha's Yellow Flash. Would you like to see a demonstration?"

I nodded, a bit confused, but he pulled out a few kunai.

Special kunai.

Three-pronged kunai, which I recognized to be the famous kunai he used for his Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Wait...your Flying Thunder God Technique? You can use chakra here?"

He gave me a look and raised an eyebrow that made me feel inferior, even though he probably didn't mean for that to happen. "Of course. Chakra is linked to the mind, so naturally we would be able to use chakra. Here, we face old enemies and what we do is up to us. We could fight, but none of us can die on this space, so there's no point. Typically, in the end, we try to mend shattered relationships and we spend our time to make peace."

He threw the kunai at the ground a few meters ahead of us, and I turned on my Gyo, curious to see how fast he was.

With the smallest flare of chakra, suddenly he was at the kunai. My eyes widened a fraction of an inch as my mind finally processed that he had moved.

One second, he was standing next to me.

The next he wasn't.

He smiled seeing my shocked face. "See? These kunai are special; they have a special seal on them that essentially reverse summons me to wherever the kunai is. I can also just manually place a seal somewhere, and it works the same but the kunai are more convenient."

I 'oohed', and he grinned at me.

I nodded again, frowning as I remembered something, "Wait. So say, if you stabbed me with a kunai in the heart here, I wouldn't die? Couldn't some dead person who was bitter to some other dead person and essentially torture them for all eternity?"

He raised his eyebrow at the weirdness of my question, but he replied, "Well, for whatever reason, the people that are here, in this white space, are not tainted. None of their hearts are involved with the darkness of fear, gluttony, greed, want of power, among other things. That's why there aren't many people here, sadly." His eyebrows creased, and I could only try to imagine what the man who had become Hokage early in his life, died early in his life, and yet probably saw more death and sources of stress than a normal person's lifetime. "However, I have seen a darker space on the horizon, but none of the people here have attempted to go there. I'm assuming that the people with not-so-good intentions are there."

"So...the people here are good, technically?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up at my ingenious wording.

"I guess you could say that. Oh, there's Kushina."

I whipped my head around, and the first thing I saw was flaming red hair.

"Hello Minato. Hey, who's this girl? Is she a newcomer?" she blinked.

"..." I couldn't formulate any words. When i finally could get my voice box to work, I said the first thing that came to mind.

Which was pretty stupid.

"Your hair is so pretty..." I breathed, and she blinked again.

There was a stagnant pause, with me staring at her and with her staring at me.

Then she started laughing.

After her laughing fit was over, pausing with the occasional giggle that slipped out, she said, "I like this girl. What's your name?"

"Um, Ava..."

"That's a rather strange name..."

"Uh, I'm from a different land..." I didn't know how exactly to put into words, 'I come from another dimension that made a book and television series about you and other people's futures!'

My hesitancy must have shown on my face a bit, because I noticed Minato's eyes narrow slightly out of the corner of my eye.

Judging from the very slight reaction on Kushina's face, she saw it too.

Pretending i didn't see anything, I turned and looked at Minato fully.

Then to Kushina.

Back to Minato.

Back to Kushina.

I grinned mischievously.

"Are you two an _item_?"

They both blinked, then flushed.

Both of their pale faces flushed red as Kushina's hair, and Minato coughed, looking everywhere but me and Kushina.

"...I'm taking that as a yes?"

Minato recovered first (probably not to anger Kushina, who was frowning at him), "Er, yes, we're married. How'd you tell?"

"I can feel the sparks of chemistry between you!" I giggled, and Kushina's frowned turned into a smile.

Which Minato saw, and he smiled too.

My switching looks routine resumed.

I grinned to myself again, and I shook my head in amusement.

"Damn, Minato, you are _so_ _whipped_."

* * *

I'm sorry!

:'(

This is a really late update, and I didn't get to the fight yet. I lied. In apology, this chapter is extra long. It's like the length of two chapters. And to think I was gonna add the beginning of the fight in here...

But anyway, yes everyone who guessed, the mystery woman is Rin Nohara. Plot is unfolding~

Please please please please please review! *Holds out chibi Itachi plushie* You can't say no to this face!

...

Don't be a spoilsport.

Bye bye!


	10. Apatite

I'm baaaaack!

**WE HAVE HIT THE 50 REVIEW MARK! ****ヾ( ´∇`)ﾉ WHOOOT WHOOOOOOT! I PRETTY SURE NO ONE ELSE BUT ME IS EXCITED, BUT WHOOOT!**

I think I lost a follow after the last chapter... :( But then I got it back after about half a day... XD

Well, I think it's safe to say now that this story is indeed ItachixAva (anyone who dislikes this can suck Naruto's...! Blue double popsicle he got from Jiraiya...what didja think I was gonna say?) Not revealing Sasuke pairing!

Also, later this chapter is a bit more serious than usual, just because I felt like making this story a little more angsty.

I actually thought up of a few quotes for this story to use...hm...I'll give a small prize to anyone (later XD) who finds quotes/things that are from other places (such as other fanfics, or like books or something), and who the original source was and who said it. It doesn't count if I say it explicitly.

Anyway, nice long chappie for you guys! Oh yeah, when it's Sakura's P.O.V., Ava's thoughts will be in **bold**, and Sakura's thoughts will be regular. It'll just be the other person be bold, and the person speaking not.

EDIT: THIS IS A REVISED CHAPTER, BECAUSE SOMEONE IN A REVIEW KINDLY TOLD ME IT WAS TOO SIMILAR TO A STORY WE HAD READ BEFORE. IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CONTINUE SCROLLING YOUR WAY DOWNWARDS...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. He belongs solely to Kushina and Minato. Totally.

Warning: Me being a potty mouth. And having a naughty mind. Does not add up to good stuff.**  
**

* * *

_"This is my knife. It is very sharp and very eager to hurt you." ~ Lemony Snicket_

_Apatite: a widely occurring pale green to purple mineral, consisting of calcium phosphate with some fluorine, chlorine, and other elements. It is used in the manufacture of fertilizers._

* * *

Dream - Ava's P.O.V.

"Sorry Ava-chan. I'll find other people for you to meet later. I think it'd be best if you woke up now.

I blinked at Minato, before nodding my head hesitantly. He smiled, and ruffled my hair, which caused me to stick my tounge out at him, and Kushina laughed.

"That's true Ava-chan. Don't worry, I'll introduce you to one of my friends next time!"

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

I woke up with a gasp as I shot up out of the futon I was laying in.

Blinking sun out of my eyes, I remembered what day it was. Suddenly, a door slid open.

"Oh...you're awake Sakura-chan," Tsunami said tremulously. I blinked at her, before turning my gaze back to the white sheets of the futon.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, telling Inari off and all that…" I trailed off, before she took a deep breath while looking at the plain walls of the room.

"Last night? It was particularly interesting…" she started, and I urged her to continue with my eyes. "After you said that to Inari, you got up and left. Then, Inari started crying." I winced, but she smiled softly. "He started insisting that you should give up, and that no one would ever win against Gatou, before Naruto-kun called him a crybaby. Then Naruto-kun stormed off to his room, and Kakashi-sensei took Inari outside on the porch to explain to him about your guys' opinions. Ever since, Inari's been a bit quiet, but I can see him thinking. I really hope that you guys can get through to him and make him more optimistic."

I blinked in surprise. Well, at least things still went like they were supposed to.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, and she bit her lip.

"Well, Tazuna, Kakashi-sensei, and Sasuke-kun went to the bridge to fight. We decided to leave Naruto behind so he can rest. Yesterday he was almost sleeping at dinner until...well..." she explained, and I nodded.

**See? I told you things would be fine.**

...So now we make a shadow clone? This is going to be hard. It's going to take a bit of chakra…

Okay, maybe a lot.

**Well, I'll avoid being hit, so you won't have to worry about having to make another one for me.**

Well...don't go all jounin or something, or else Kakashi might get a bit suspicious.

**Yeah, yeah. Tone down my skills. I'll just avoid being hit and protect Tazuna, while you protect Tsunami and Inari at the house. After the kidnappers are taken care of, you can go to the bridge.**

I stood up in the middle of the room, and calmed my raging thoughts.

'Split my chakra in half...'

I focused, and imagined making a clone except more...solid.

It didn't work.

Well, damn.

...Er...just try again...

I tried again (and Kakashi probably noticed by now my chakra was flaring weirdly, but whatever) and failed.

Throwing my hands up in the air, I remembered something from a good old anime called Bleach.

Uh...what was it again...

Imagine a big black sphere and throw yourself in it?

**Are you sure that's going to work?**

...No...

With a poof, I finally made a clone. Except it looked like it was sweating slightly, and it looked very pale. I shook my head internally and made it poof out of existence.

I tried again, and after another two times I made an acceptable one. By this time, I was sweating and I had to sit down, even with Sakura chiming in with her chakra, probably due to this body not being used to lots of chakra use.

My clone stood up, and I watched her. I saw her nod, and I knew Sakura was controlling it.

**Testing, testing. Can you still hear me?**

Yes.

**Well, at least things are going good on this half. Hopefully Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke aren't getting their asses kicked.**

Well, considering that Sasuke almost died…

Oh well. I'll be going now.

Clone/Actual Sakura and I exchanged nods once more, before she snuck out.

* * *

Finally, Naruto woke up.

"Why didn't you wake me up before?!" he yelled when he figured out Kakashi and Sasuke had left.

I snorted. "You had chakra exhaustion. Even with your extreme stamina, you were still worn out."

"I don't care! I'm going now!" he yelled, and he scrambled out of the room to get changed.

After I had known he had left at a fast pace due to chakra tracking, I went into the kitchen.

Inari looked up at me, before looking down again as he washed the dishes.

I stepped up to the sink with him and grabbed one of the plated to dry them with a towel.

"..."

"..."

"...Kakashi told me yesterday why you did that."

I raised an eyebrow at him, and his face seemed to sink even lower even though he didn't move his head.

"He said you didn't like to see helpless people, and that you wanted me to have more courage."

I sighed. "Inari, I'm going to tell you a little story. Once, there was a normal civilian girl in the village of Konoha. She was as ordinary as you can get. But suddenly, she has to become a ninja. Now, she had never even dreamt of becoming one before, but she had always admired ninjas. She struggles to keep up with the other ninjas her age due to her joining late, and she feels like she is inferior to her teammates, who all are very special. Her sensei is very strong and is almost famous. One of her teammates is a genius, a child prodigy who can achieve many things without even trying. Her last teammate was seen as a dead last, but now he is growing at such a rate that it scares everyone, and even he is much stronger than her. This girl doesn't know what to do. She cannot quit as a ninja, because she has already sworn to someone she respects that she will not quit, but she is severely lacking in skills, reflexes, intelligence, and has to rely solely on someone else to even scrape by. Now she finds another boy, who is younger than her by a few years when she travels with her team to another country on a mission, a boy who has given up on happiness. She feels unhappy and angry because the boy tries to convince her and her team to just to give up. But she can't. Because she swore to someone she respects, she wants to support her teammates even if it hurts her in the process, and in the end she doesn't want to believe him. Even though he might be right.

But you know, what is the one thing in the world that is stronger than even the worst of fears?"

"..." he stared at the dish in his hands, his eyes widening, as he realized who I was talking about.

"Hope. Because, hope can make you keep going, hope can make you strong, hope can make you get up after you fall. Never give up on hope, Inari. Because if you do, I'm not sure if I can even keep it."

He turned around, staring at me as I finished drying the dishes, setting them back on the counter.

Suddenly, there was a scream.

_Tsunami._

Shit.

* * *

I walked behind the door of the dining room, where Tsunami was being held by the two samurai whose names I forgot. I placed a quick genjutsu (although sloppy) over myself so Inari didn't see me.

"If you hurt him, I will bit off my tongue and kill myself. You need a hostage, right?" she said bravely, I heard as I hid behind the door. I knew at this point she was being taken outside. I narrowed my eyes, but restrained myself from moving until Inari had a chance to feel brave. Inari started trembling

"Hey, get away from my mom!" a slightly weak, tremulous voice called out, and I peeked my head around the corner and saw Inari shiver in fear as he stood up to the two samurai.

They laughed.

Damn them.

Oh well.

Too bad for them.

"Heh, it's the kid. Let's cut him up."

With a weak yell, Inari started running towards them. I almost lost control of my genjutsu when I had a horrified realization.

_Where's Naruto's chakra?_

**Sorry Ava. This one's all yours. Can't think that much right now. Protecting Tazuna, Naruto hasn't shown up yet.**

I gulped when I realized I had no choice but to step in myself.

I let go of the genjutsu, and I braced myself, feeling the three chakras get closer...

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...

Now!

Using a burst of chakra to my legs, I almost felt myself go in slow-mo as I snatched Inari and buried him into my arms and duck under the two blades in turn, ending about a few meters away from the samurai. I felt their chakras change a bit into confusion, until they turned around to see me.

I set down Inari on his feet in front of me, when a voice called out, "Hey! It's one of those ninja brats again. What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Hmm? Well, it's more of a question about what I'm going to do, rather than what I am doing," I said calmly and rather cheerfully for the situation, imitating Minato as I turned toward the kidnappers.

"You little bit-"

"_I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!_"

After I roared, I gathered the most chakra I could to my legs, I pulled out a kunai from my kunai pouch, and I sprinted forward, their faces morphing into surprise as I brought my hand forward.

Now, Sakura had given me a lesson on human anatomy. One of the best ways to disable a person was to cut their tendons. If you cut their tendons above the heel (Achilles tendon), they couldn't stand or move. If you cut their arm tendons near the elbow, they couldn't move their arms, and most likely not use a weapon.

What would happen if you cut both?

Going for the one who said they would cut Inari up first, I cut at his elbows where the tendon would be, causing him to yell in pain, before I did a low half-cartwheel to bend down easier, cutting at his Achilles tendon. He flopped onto the ground, sweating and groaning in pain, before I turned to the other samurai, who gulped in fear.

I repeated through the process with the other one, ducking from a half-assed swing he gave with his sword when he knew what I was going to do, hissing when he made a small cut near my forehead, and soon he was laying prostrate on the ground.

I stuck out my tongue.

"Just kidding."

I turned to Tsunami, who was kneeling on the ground, and asked her, "Do you have any rope? I don't want to take any chances." She blinked out of her stupor, and nodded, giving me directions to find the shipping rope they had. I dragged the two together, ignoring the blood flowing slowly out of their cuts, and bound them together.

Turning around again, I frowned at Inari who was staring at them in shock. "Are you okay?" I raised an eyebrow, and he nodded. I walked over to him, knelt where he was sitting on the ground, and smiled at him, and I brought up my hand to ruffle his hair.

"You bought enough time for me to have the element of surprise. Your father would have been proud of you."

His eyes widened, before he started blubbering and wiped his eyes.

"Damn it, I swore not to cry anymore..."

I grinned and chuckled at him.

"It's alright to cry when you're happy. But I don't want to see you crying because you're sad alright?"

He nodded again, tears streaming down his face. I handed him a handkerchief to wipe his face with, before I stood up.

"Okay, Tsunami, I'll be going now."

She gaped at me.

"W-What? But you're still hurt - "

I grinned sheepishly, rubbing my cut with my hand, grimacing when it came back smeared wit blood. I shrugged, "Well, I'll be fine. Be careful not to be caught off guard again, though. I need to get to the bridge."

She nodded, before I turned once more to Inari. "Good job kid. Protect your mom again for me, 'kay?"

He grinned, before nodding enthusiastically.

I smiled at the two, before I settled my face into a serious mask, and took off into the forest with a burst of chakra.

* * *

Sakura's P.O.V.

I inwardly grinned when I saw what Ava had done to the kidnappers.

Since she had done her job, I now focused solely on mine when I felt her chakra fluctuating as she used bursts of chakra to move swiftly through the forest.

Watching through narrowed eyes toward the two fights going on, I sighed softly.

Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza were fighting mostly through the thick mist. Monitoring their chakra, I realized I must have been at or even above the level of Kakashi-sensei at this point, because I could actually pinpoint the location and position Zabuza was in.

They were fairly evenly matched, and if I remembered correctly, Kakashi-sensei would have killed Zabuza, had not it been for Haku.

Speaking of Haku...

I turned my gaze toward the fight ongoing between Sasuke and Haku. I mentally berated myself when I realized if I had been the one fighting, I would have been able to doge half of the hits being delivered towards Sasuke, and block the other half, even with this body. Reminding myself he was just twelve, I resumed monitoring the four peoples' chakra, and I noticed when another chakra I recognized entered the radius I was monitoring.

Finally.

I threw a kunai towards Haku, and he grabbed it like he was supposed to.

Only for a shuriken to knock into his head, bowling him over.

As he got up shakily, the person who arrived grinned.

"Uzumaki Naruto has arrived!"

Everyone looked slightly impressed, and internally I shook my head.

Uzumaki Naruto; wants to be a hero, but only makes it worse in the end...

"Now that I'm here, everything will be fine! You know how the main character always arrives late, and instantly kicks the enemy's ass!"

Everyone at this point looked slightly miffed, or doubtful.

Zabuza, though, spared no time, and instead launched a barrage of shuriken towards Naruto, and I saw him tense up to fight.

Only for a well thrown barrage of needles to block each shuriken in their path of flight, and Zabuza narrowed his eyes.

"Haku, what's this?"

"These kids...please let me fight them my way, Zabuza-san..."

Zabuza straightened his posture, bent from throwing the shuriken, and said, "Tch. You're soft like always, Haku. Not wanting me to interfere..."

I turned my gaze towards Sasuke, who was thinking hard about the advantages and disadvantages.

Suddenly, a face flashed in my mind. I shook my head to clear it.

No, he wasn't _him_.

He wasn't the one who killed me.

This younger version, who had actually slightly cared for me at one point as a teammate, is not the one who killed me in cold-blood in the middle of the Fourth Shinobi War...

Even though I didn't tell Ava that I remembered how I died, well, I do. Ava remembered how she died, so naturally I would probably too.

I didn't want her to get hung over by the thought that the one she would be helping throughout this path would be the one who would've eventually killed me.

My eyes dimmed slightly as I remembered _that_ day…

_The day I died._

* * *

_Flashback - Sakura's P.O.V._

_I panted loudly as I blocked a heavy blow from my former teammate, who merely smirked._

_While I was almost drenched in sweat and was exhausted, he looked absolutely fine._

_"Getting a little tired, Sakura?"_

_"Uh, no fucking duh, Sasuke. Lucky to see those overused eyes of yours aren't going blind. It really helps me sleep at night."_

_"Oh? So little respect for the person you once idolized?"_

_My eyes narrowed in anger, before I regained my composure and leaned back in fake confidence, before rushing forward to deal a high roundhouse kick._

_"...You aren't him. You aren't the Sasuke I once idolized, back when we were twelve. You know, back when you weren't a power thirsty bastard."_

_He cocked his head to the side with a blank look, before he smirked arrogantly. "So I'm a power thirsty bastard?" He blocked the kick with a raised forearm, and I snarled in response, and with resolve, I jumped up using my other leg and with a snap, I brought it down towards his head with another flash of chakra, something I had learned from Tsunade-sama, and what I was famous for._

_He narrowed his onyx eyes, and flipped backward, using his leg to slam into my stomach, simultaneously knocking my outstretched leg backwards in the process, and with a gasp, I flew backwards, skidding on the ground. I rolled painfully to a stop, before I stood up again._

_"I was under the impression that you were good with taijutsu," he said smoothly, and I growled at him._

_"I was under the impression that you had a heart somewhere in all that assholish-ness we all call Sasuke. What are you even doing now anyway? I thought you already killed Itachi."_

_When I said that name he stiffened._

_"Don't talk about aniki."_

_I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you hated him. Why the sudden change of heart?"_

_If possible, his gaze turned darker as he said, "It's...complicated. He didn't...he didn't do it of choice…And he came back because of Kabuto, but..."_

_I snorted._

_"Alright, so you don't want to tell me. It doesn't really make a difference now anymore, since he's still dead. Wait, dead again."_

_His gaze turned murderous, before he reeled it in again, and taking a breath. "You wouldn't understand anyway. You wouldn't understand the pain of losing your family…"_

_I snorted again, "Uh, my parents died when I was twelve. Or thirteen. I can't really remember anymore." My memories from long ago, the old times of when I was carefree and happy, I would beat up Naruto for no reason at all, and Sasuke…_

_Sasuke wasn't like this._

_He was ambitious, yes, but it all started going downhill after the curse mark._

_Everything seemed to tilt, and I stumbled forward._

_Ugh._

_Chakra exhaustion._

_Not now, of all fucking times…_

_"Not even remembering when your family died, how careless."_  
_"Oh yeah, I'm sure you remember clearly just how your family died, every single member. I'm also fairly sure you want me to feel that pain, too. My parents died peacefully, straight from when that genjutsu was cast. They didn't even have a chance to think a single thought, much less feel pain, before they slipped into an eternal sleep. I cried at night for days, weeks, months, and remembered it for years; how I felt when I saw the letter at my door. But I eventually got over it. Do you know why, Sasuke?"_

_"..." He was silent._

_"It was because of you. I saw you, and instead of moping around everywhere, you decided to take things into your own hands, and try to avenge your family. Me? Well, I couldn't do much avenging, but at least I got to deal a few blows to the one that caused it. And I thought to myself, 'Hey. Sasuke, he watched his parents die, at the hands of his own beloved brother. The same brother who showed up at his first day at the Academy, the one that carried him on his back on the way back from training when he picked him up. My parents died peacefully, maybe even happily. Why do you have the right to mope? Why do I, of all people, when he was strong?' You were my idol, the person I always had striven to be like. Strong, courageous, and smart. I was supposed to be the smartest of the group, but you surpassed me easily, and even Naruto is pretty smart now. A silly fangirl crush evolved into a full-blast admiration. It wasn't, "Sasuke-kun, let's go on a date!" anymore, it was, "Sasuke? Can you teach me how to do that?" Well, that was before everything went to hell, you left with Orochimaru, Orochimaru of all people, a traitor to the village just like Itachi, and you trained under him for a few years. Gee, talk about fucking hypocritical! That was when I lost every ounce of respect i once held for you."_

_He listened through my angry rant with a blank uninterested stare, one that could rival the dead Sasori's._

_"...And I'm supposed to care?"_

_I bit the inside of my cheek in utter frustration, only stopping when I tasted blood. "No.. You're supposed to be the Sasuke I once knew, the one I liked. Not this…stranger," I gestured toward him with tired hands, feeling unable to do anything anymore._

_I was just so tired._

_I sighed loudly, and felt my legs give out underneath me. Sliding into a sitting position, I blinked my eyes a few times, and after blinking a third time, a sword appeared in front of my chest. I looked down, eyeing the sharp tip of the gleaming blade, and said, "...Are you going to kill me or not?"_

_He looked at me condescendingly, with cold eyes. He seemed to weigh the options, before he closed his eyes, opened them, and I thought I saw something flicker in the dark abyssal irises, and he slowly brought forward the blade._

_Right before I felt the blade pierce my chest, I closed my eyes and smiled softly for the first time in months._

_"Thank you...for everything."_

_And everything was black._

_I opened my eyes, only to see a blinding white space enveloping me._

_Where was I ?_

_Glancing around warily, I realized I could feel at least...a hundred chakra signatures. A lot were p_owerful_ chakra signatures._

_Oh, shit._

_However, no one seemed to be trying to attack me, but I didn't need to worry about that. The world turned dark once again, and a sharp painful tug on my mind (like having a migraine) and I blacked out again._

* * *

Sakura's P.O.V.

Shaking my head again, telling myself to focus, I noticed Ava's chakra signature approach.

Ava, once you get close enough, let's do a kawarimi.

**'Kay. I'm ready.**

Waiting a few moments, I realized Ava was in range, so I discreetly (I mean, there was mist everywhere, so not too hard) held my hands in a hand seal, the one used for kawarimi, and I closed my eyes.

Ava.

Suddenly, I was in the forest instead of the bridge.

Now, it's up to you Ava...

* * *

Ava's P.O.V.

Suddenly, a whoosh of chakra made me nauseous, but I was on the bridge.

Note to self: do not do teleportations again. Actually, never say 'I'm ready', 'cause most likely, I will not be.

Returning to a stance (guided by the ever-helpful Sakura) of defense, I watched the chakra around Tazuna.

"Stay close to me. I don't want any accidents in this thick mist."

"Yeah," he replied, but unbeknownst to me, a pair of eyes where watching me.

* * *

Okay!

I'm dragging out the Zabuza arc way too long, but whatevs! Lol...

It's taken 10 chapters to get through most of the Zabuza arc (It'll maybe take two more to wrap up?), so imagine how long the whole thing will be...

Review please! I've been adding random stuff all around different parts of the chapter at the same time, so tell me if there's an unfinished sentence or something.

Bye!


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